South Carolina has a centuries-long history of inequalities and injustices, Some have been corrected. Some plague us today.

Our education system punishes students in poverty and the numbers show it. Students in poverty are 4 times less likely to graduate from high school than their economically advantaged peers.

These educational failures rank us near the bottom compared to other states.

Countless studies show inequities with class availability, test scores, school funding, teacher shortages and other important factors that are attributed to wealth disparities.

Fortunately, South Carolina’s legislature has a rare opportunity to take long strides towards fixing SC’s educational system.

S.419, the bill that Senators Hembree, Massey and many others have settled on only takes small steps towards permanent mediocrity instead of the long strides needed to make us a globally-competitive generation of South Carolina youth.

It’s time for our legislature to stop nibbling around the edges of educational reform and tackle the necessary issues of teacher pay, teacher shortages, school funding inequalities, and reducing testing, and more changes teachers want and need instead of doing more of nothing.

Zachary Blackburn, West Columbia