Latest / Real State / South Carolina Education with Senator Hembree: Gains, Gaps, and What’s Next?

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South Carolina Education with Senator Hembree: Gains, Gaps, and What’s Next? · Real State

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  The one group that doesn't have it, the lobbyists in there, are the students.
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  I want to hear from the adults.
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  They're going to implement the system, but when it gets right down to it,
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  we got to look out for those kids because that's what we're here for.
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  This is Real State, a podcast from CSG South.
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  Join us as we talk with policymakers and public leaders shaping state level decisions across the South
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  and explore how ideas move from policy to real impact.
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  Hello and welcome to Real State.
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  I'm your host, Lindsey Gray.
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  Across the South, education remains one of the most important and closely watched policy areas for state leaders.
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  States are wrestling with big questions, how to improve student outcomes, strengthen a teacher pipeline,
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  ensure accountability and make sure policy changes translate into results in the classroom.
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  In South Carolina, those conversations have included literacy and math achievement, school choice,
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  charter school accountability, classroom distractions, teacher recruitment,
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  and the state's long term role in helping students and families succeed.
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  Our guest today is Senator Greg Hembree of South Carolina.
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  Senator Hembree currently serves as chairman of the Senate Education Committee.
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  He also previously chaired CSG South's Education Policy Committee,
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  bringing both a state and regional perspective to this conversation.
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  Senator Hembree, thank you for being with us.
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  Lindsey, it's great to be here today.
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  Thanks for asking me to be on.
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  Senator, you've been working on education issues for many years now.
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  And South Carolina has seen a lot of policy movement in a relatively short period of time.
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  So when you look at South Carolina's education landscape right now,
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  what do you see as the biggest story of this moment?
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  I guess it probably has to do with school choice and parents involvement in schools.
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  Sort of a re-engagement by parents, not that they were ever completely disengaged,
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  but I think that you've seen, particularly since COVID,
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  you've seen a re-engagement by parents that there was a shift that took place at that time.
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  And quite frankly, and you've kind of talked about it, but I think it's worth mentioning,
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  you know, the South East is where education is happening.
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  I mean, I know it's always an issue all over the country,
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  one of the, you know, in my view, the second most important thing we do in state government is the K-12
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  Education System, but in the South East, it is a hot topic,
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  and our sister states all around us are really, really involved in all kinds of
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  terrific experiments and things to try to move the needle, and they are moving the needle.
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  Absolutely. You've been in the legislature since 2013,
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  so from your vantage point, how has the education conversation changed over that time?
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  I know you mentioned COVID and how there were some shifts there,
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  but in terms of priorities of what lawmakers now view as possible.
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  You know, when I started, and I was lucky enough to get on the education committee in the Senate,
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  my first year, so I've been on it my entire time, when I started though, it felt to me like,
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  I would say the K-12 education establishment, and I don't mean that in a negative way,
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  I just mean sort of the status quo in education was driving the bus.
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  I mean, they were in charge, you know, you had a lot of, they still exist. Many organizations,
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  teacher organizations, administrator organizations, school board organizations,
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  I mean, all of these different groups have, they're out there to represent the interest of the adults
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  in the system. And again, I don't mean to imply that there was something wrong with, you know,
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  that was all bad, but they were really kind of in charge, and that has shifted in South Carolina
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  in the time, in the 14th, in my 14th year now, and now that's really shifted where, and I don't want to
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  cut, maybe skip, not skip to system, but a recognition that these groups are representing, they're advocating
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  for the groups that they represent it. And one group that doesn't have it, the lobbyists in there,
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  are the students. I've embraced that as sort of a true North, you know, that my goals to represent
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  the students, I want to hear from the adults, they are, they're going to implement the system,
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  their voices are important, their experience is important, but when it gets right down to it,
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  we have to look out for those kids because that's the, I mean, that's what we're here for. I mean,
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  we're not here to just give people jobs, and we're here to, we're here to try to, try to
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  provide a world-class education for all of our students in South Carolina.
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  Well, that actually takes us kind of greatly into our next section, which is one of the things that
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  stands out is that South Carolina has not focused on just one lever. So the state has been,
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  you know, active on school choice, scholarships, accountability, teacher pipeline issues,
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  and classroom policy, really kind of all at the same time. So really tackling education from
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  several angles and making sure that you're covering not just one side of, side of the issue. So in 2025,
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  South Carolina enacted the education scholarship trust fund through Senate Bill 62. And this session,
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  you've sponsored a bill, I believe it's Senate Bill 692, that's working its way through the Senate now.
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  And it would further refine eligible expenses and tighten some guardrails around participation.
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  So what problem are you trying to solve with this bill? And what is South Carolina trying to get,
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  to get right in this next phase of the education scholarship trust fund?
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  The education scholarship trust fund, and if the lack of a better way to say it, it's that, you know,
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  generically, it's sort of a voucher program. So it provides up to $7,500 for students that, the students
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  that are at 300% of poverty have a preference. So they're the first ones that get the scholarship,
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  and it can be used for private school, it can be used for a host of things. But one of the ways that
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  we did not provide for was a home schooling option. And this was at the request of the home schooling
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  community in South Carolina, in every iteration of this bill, and there have been three of them,
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  we're in the third one, the third one made it, and it is in place now. We specifically
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  prohibited this money going to home schools because that's what the home school community wanted.
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  The Department of Education on their own have interpreted the law as being eligible for what,
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  what was being called home school for? We have three home school options in statute in South Carolina.
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  So we got home plenty of home school options, but they were calling it, it was being called home school
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  for, well, there's no such thing as home school for, and now it's being called unbundlers. It's just,
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  it's, it's rose by any other name, bottom line, it's home schoolers that are now accessing the money. That
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  was specifically debated and discussed and not provided for, I believe that the Department of
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  Education is misinterpreted or, they certainly misinterpreted our intent. I think they've misinterpreted
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  the law as well, and I think they've gotten these kids way out on a limb quite frankly. So we're in
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  the process of trying to, trying to address this mess. We're still in the middle of the fight on that.
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  So, it'll sort out eventually, but it's certainly going to, it will, it will, in the future, for a while
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  at least, will slow the progress of our efforts in education, because now we're going to be checking
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  behind each other on everything and that slows things down. Yeah, I have seen the recent debates in
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  the news and it does seem that there's still a lot to work through and it has been a bit contention.
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  And as these programs grow, I mean, what does responsible implementation look like to you as a
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  lawmaker then? What's the, yeah, out of that? Describe myself as a, I'm a conservative with a
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  capital C, but I'm a conservative with a small C2, you know, and I like to, particularly with new
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  programs, I like to roll them out and look, slowly take your time. I'm more interested in getting it
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  right than getting it fast. So I mean, I think you take it slow, you get it right, you get, you know,
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  your fundamentals right, then you can kind of move out into the more experimental stages of the
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  project. And I mean, to me, that's, I think that's just smart governance and it saves money and it
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  saves, you know, it builds credibility. You've established that. Now you've got a track record,
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  you can come back to the General Assembly and say, or, you know, we can, I can sell that. I can take
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  that to my colleagues and I can show them with data, you know, with hard numbers, you know, even,
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  you may not like this program, but I can show you it's working. Well, sticking with the theme of
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  accountability, let's talk about some of the other great things that South Carolina has been doing.
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  Policy discussions in South Carolina have focused on charter schools in recent years as well.
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  In 2025, you introduced Senate Bill five, I'm sorry, four five four, which was amended this session
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  and sent to the House, it seems. So this is a charter school accountability bill that would require
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  more disclosure, strengthen, authorize, or responsibilities and expand oversight expectations.
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  So what were the gaps or warning signs that led you to focus on charter school accountability at
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  this point? So a couple things. We've had a real, for many years, we had charter schools in South
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  Carolina, public charter schools for about 25 years and they got, they reached our total public school
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  population, about 750,000 kids to give you some perspective. We had about 30,000 in public charter
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  schools. It was a pretty, you know, relatively small number and it was pretty stable for a long time.
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  Then, and this was really leading up to COVID, it started, this move really started before COVID,
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  but a couple of years before that, that you could see there was an expansion of interest and,
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  I guess, capacity for charter schools in South Carolina. The growth, the growth started,
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  COVID comes along. That gives it a shot of adrenaline, I think, really ramps that up. Again,
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  I think that triggered so much more parental engagement, parental interest. They started looking for
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  more options. So it's now about 65, 70,000 students. So it's, you know, it's gone up, it's more than doubled
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  in a fairly short period of time. So that, the other was, we have sort of a weird quirk in our law
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  that, that institutions of our education can be authorizers for charter schools.
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  And there was absolutely no criteria for them to be authorizers of charter schools. They just had
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  to send a letter to the Department of Education that said, I'm an authorizer, you know, I just want
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  to let you know. And, you know, it was way too loose because the authorizers have a lot of
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  responsibility, a lot of, you know, to fit with finances, with, you know, with oversight, with,
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  you know, helping with, not instructing, but, you know, sort of helping the schools that are
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  struggling to improve. So there's, you know, they're, they're, they're, they have a critical function in
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  this. And we saw some years ago a private college that went into the, to, to, the charter school authorizer
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  business, which, you know, it never been done before like that. And not wasn't really what the law
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  intended, the law intended, they, there wasn't stated this way. So they're not, nobody's violating the
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  law, but I think what was in the minds of the general assembly at the time was like a college, a
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  university that has a university high school, like, you know, coastal Carolina University wants to
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  have an, you know, on campus high school for the professors, children or however, you know, something
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  like that. That's an old model, been around for a long time. I think that was in people's minds, but
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  small college, small private college went into the business, some of the schools that were in
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  trouble that were like, you know, kind of struggling all of a sudden jumped to that charter, that charter
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  school authorizer. And it gets sort of, we made you feel like this might be a trap door that,
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  that struggling schools can use because if you're, if you're failing for three years or
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  a row, your charter is suspended, you know, you're, you're out. So there were some schools that, it felt
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  like they took advantage of that. By the way, that authorizer is still around and doing a really
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  good job. So, you know, the skepticism that I had seven years ago, eight years ago, when they first
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  started, they have, they have allayed those fears, you know, they're through their conduct and they're,
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  they're a, they're a good, a really good authorizer. But there, there's another authorizer that came in,
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  that authorizer is now gone, that was another private school, that, because of school closed.
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  So there have been some, you know, we bumped into some of these problems. It was obvious that
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  the, the, the space had matured that needed more, you know, with that growth, it needed more over,
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  you know, needed more rules. And, and quite frankly, the authorizer were telling us, we need rules.
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  You know, we want, we want rules. And so they were very helpful. We sat down with authorizers,
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  Department of Education, schools. I mean, it really was kind of everybody at the table kind of
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  thing. It was about a five year process. Like you said, the space, the space of all, and, you know,
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  I'd strike the right balance between innovation and autonomy on one hand and public,
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  public accountability on the other. So it sounds like that's what you were doing. We're always trying
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  to find that balance somewhere in there, which, which is, is reasonable and, and, but sufficient.
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  And I think that's what we did here. Well, accountability is one side of the equation. So the other is,
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  you know, talking about whether the state is building the capacity it needs inside the schools and
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  making sure that you are focusing on that as well. So in 2024, you sponsored legislation that expanded
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  scholarship stipends for education majors with caveats that they commit to teaching in South Carolina,
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  public schools. And we've seen that for many professions. So this was applied from the teacher lens.
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  And in 2025, Senate Bill 79 proposed a pilot allowing certain schools to hire a limited percentage
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  of non-certified teachers under, you defined conditions. Like you said, you got to strike that balance,
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  right? Of some rules. But not too many that were restricting folks so much. So when you look at
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  the teacher pipeline, where do you believe South Carolina is making progress? And where is the state
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  still under real pressure? We have got our teachers that are leaving the profession has gone down.
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  So we've seen that that's trended in the last couple of years. I think they're, it's hard to put
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  your finger on exactly what's causing that. What's the, but one of the reasons we've raised our teacher
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  salaries substantially. In the last seven years, it's gone, minimum salaries gone from $30,000 a year
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  to $47.5. And we're going to go over 50 that will hit 50 this year. And that's what the state
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  pays minimum teacher salary. The district supplement that. So I think the teacher salary,
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  the real teacher salary is going to be somewhere around like 57, something like that for a starting
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  teacher with no masters. I mean, just coming right out of school. So when you annualize that salary
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  and put the benefits package on there, it gets to be a pretty good, it's a good, you know, it's a good
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  compensation package for a first year person. So that's helped. I mean, it's actually helped more than
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  I thought it would. It's helped with retention. There've been some other retention things. And the
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  scholarships type in, we're already, even though it's brand new, the feedback, and this isn't scientific,
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  it's anecdotal, but we're getting feedback from the colleges of education that, you know, they're
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  getting some, some additional, they're getting an increase in the interest because of that scholarship.
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  So, you know, those two things have helped. So right now, you know, we're like total number of teachers
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  for the system. We're a pretty good shape. I mean, we're not, that's not where our problem is.
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  It's interesting too. Our state is growing very fast in, you know, South Carolina is really growing,
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  but most of our growth is retirees. I mean, the majority of it. So our student population is not
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  growing like our state is. It's going up just a little bit and actually the growth is in the charter
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  schools. That's where we're seeing the actual, the number for the traditional K-12 is pretty flat.
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  And then charter, you know, there's the little bit of growth we're seeing overall is kind of in
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  charters, but the number of teachers that we have is sufficient. Now, the problem is, there's two problems.
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  One problem is there are certain areas and certain subject matters that we're, we don't have enough of.
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  I mean, there are parts of the state that we are, you know, we talk about teacher shortage crisis.
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  On the system, it's not, there's no crisis at all. It's that'd be a goofy thing to say. But in that
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  district over there, they got to teach your shortage crisis. And that district over there, they can't
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  find a physics teacher. I mean, there's nobody teaching physics in the whole system because we got some
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  pretty, we got about 75 school districts and some of them are pretty small. So, you know, you have
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  that struggle, but it's really more about geography and subject matter than and and and where it like
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  say where it is is the problem. And that's, those are tougher problems to solve. I mean, you know,
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  they're, you know, because if you've got a community that, you know, they're in decline, they're,
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  I mean, the economy is, is, you know, is decreasing. There's very little going on in this part of the
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  part of the state. Why would a bright young teacher, you know, want to move? You know, why would any
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  young person, you know, this professional coming out of college want to live there, you know, unless
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  they're from there? So it does seem that the needle is moving in the direction the legislature has
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  intended with some of these, these policies. So, but that does not always mean the work is done.
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  As we were just talking about, but the broader picture around education workforce remains challenging,
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  especially around retention and those hard to staff roles, those niche roles that you just
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  reference like the civics teacher and the, at a really small rural community and really attracting
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  those folks or retaining once you do get someone there. How do you think about the difference between
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  short term staffing relief and long term work worth strength? Is there an answer there? Is there a
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  strategy? I think there is an answer and a strategy and I think it is in the colleges of education.
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  I think those are the, I think it was two-fold, I'll go twice, two ways here. First in the colleges
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  of education, I don't, I feel like in South Carolina, we often, or many, we have too many colleges of
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  education, number one, okay, we have too many of them, like 32 of them. And we were a state of five
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  million people and that's too many colleges of education. So that's another conversation. But my point
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  in saying that is you've got some that do a really great job and you've got plenty to do a pretty
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  average job and you've got some that shouldn't be in the business at all. And there's some efforts
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  going on to try to, you know, point out that you all need to close yours down, you know, that you
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  need to try something different. And many of those programs do not adequately prepare teachers for
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  the classroom. So they, they go through and they learn all the pedagogy and they, you know, they,
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  they do the things they need to do to become a teacher, check, check, check. And then they go to,
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  you know, and the new teachers are going to get the toughest classrooms, almost always. I mean,
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  which is crazy, but it's the way it works. So then you take this poor rookie and you throw them into
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  this, you know, what they call it, the old movie, Blackboard Jungle, you know, but it was like, you
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  know, this, this, you know, this really tough, tough school, but it's tough class. And no wonder we lose,
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  you know, 30, 40% of them in the first three or four years. So, they're, you know, leaving the
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  profession. So that, they're not adequately prepared for that. So I think that is the long term strategy,
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  that the colleges of education can solve this by re-evaluating their, their approach. The other big
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  long term answer is, is really get good at training principles, because it is absolutely the truth.
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  So goes the principle, so goes the school. I mean, it's a cliche, but these cliches are there for
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  a reason. I mean, that's, that was not invented in a vacuum. That was, that is exactly the truth. If you
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  got a great principle, you're probably going to have a really good school. And if not this year,
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  in two or three years. So they can, there are people that can turn these schools around. Beyond who is
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  teaching, there's also the question of what conditions help students learn best. So in 2025, you also
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  sponsored a bill that would prohibit the use of personal wireless devices in classrooms during
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  academic instruction. We are seeing a similar bill, we are seeing similar bills in other states this
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  session as well. Alabama comes to mind when I say that. So why did classroom distractions rise to
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  the level of legislative concern for you? And are there key data points and performance metrics
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  that you looked to when drafting this piece of legislation? There was a book called The Anxious
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  Generation that came out a couple of years ago. Jonathan Hyte wrote it. It's, it basically makes that
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  case that, you know, that our children are having, I mean, our mental health issues with our kids have
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  just really, you know, just, I mean, it really, really increased very quickly since smartphones
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  became a thing for, for children, really, and teenagers devices, but smartphones, especially.
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  And it's, you know, it's distracting in class. It was, I mean, it was just obvious. This was,
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  this was a problem. And I think it just sort of hit the tipping point all at once. And I mean,
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  really all over the country, there was just kind of a national. And you were, you were part of that.
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  We were part of that in, in, in SLC, or at, at CSG South, that, you know, the recognition, just kind
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  of the light bulb went off and a whole lot of those policies went into effect. We started with a
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  regulation with the Department of Education sponsored. And they wrote a really strong rag that, that,
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  so, and that we were going to use that as sort of our, our experiment, you know, kind of a pilot
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  program, if you will, although it applied to all the schools, worked through it a little bit,
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  and then, and then introduced the Legislative Permanent Legislation. And I put the bill in, but
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  in consultation with the superintendent said, you know, Y'all already got this in place. Let's watch it.
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  You know, again, back to my small city. I want to see how this experiment plays out. And then,
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  you know, we can, we can always come back and do a bill if we need to. So, so far, I don't know, I mean,
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  we're still in that phase. I don't, I don't, I don't expect to try to, I didn't push that bill,
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  don't expect to file a bill next year. Unless, you know, there's some compelling need. But right now,
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  it's working really well. We got very little, you know, a little bit of push back the first two
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  weeks. It was really funny. You know, the parents were more pushing back than the kids. It was crazy.
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  You know, they wanted to be in constant, you know, having this tether on their child during the middle
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  of math class. I mean, why do you have to be in touch with your child at, you know, in the middle of
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  school? I mean, come on. And, and so, and the kids, the feedback from the kids has been overall
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  very positive. I mean, they're, they're actually talking with people at lunchtime and, you know,
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  interacting with one another and they're, you know, it's, it's, it's working. So, I think it's leading
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  to some other conversations around the use of technology in school. That's even a different
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  conversation, but it's taken place like there was just moved now talking. We need to get back to more
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  pencil and paper. And, and it's happening. So, I think there's a, there's sort of this, we're
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  in a funny, you know, kind of a different, we're transitioning to a different stage, I think, in a way,
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  sort of away from technology. Yeah. We, I've been seeing that in the news recently as well. We've
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  been tracking policy. I think Missouri has some policy. Maine has some policy regarding going back to
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  pin paper books and, and back from technology. I feel like Sweden or one of those countries,
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  did a study and they've, they've implemented it. And so, it's kind of moving over now to the US as,
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  as a potentially a new strategy for, for schools. So, that's something we're very much watching. And
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  it's just a new strategy for schools, pencil and paper, a new strategy. I don't really, it's going back.
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  Yeah, it's like, you know, we, we do all these things, you know, and sometimes I wonder, you know,
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  do some of this stuff just work. Stick with it. You know, you don't have to change it just because
• 25:57
  a vendor is coming to your school district trying to sell you this latest greatest, you know,
• 26:02
  Shiny, Shiny, lower. Maybe you should just stick with what's working. If you're doing what I'll
• 26:07
  just find in there. Yeah, and as COVID, you know, affected so many things, I would say that was another,
• 26:12
  that was another reason why I think school districts and schools were kind of jumping on that
• 26:19
  technology, bandwagon. But yeah, I said new strategy, but it's really just going back to the way.
• 26:24
  Cutting it, cutting it. So, well, this brings us to the core question. I think every state is asking,
• 26:33
  are students making the gains they need? Recent data suggests South Carolina has some
• 26:39
  encouraging momentum, especially in fourth grade math and has outperformed national trends in some
• 26:45
  recent reading comparisons. At the same time, the state still faces persistent achievement gaps
• 26:52
  and work for challenges as all of our Southern states are. But I will give a shout out to our Southern
• 26:58
  states leading the way a lot of our states like South Carolina leading the way in some of these
• 27:03
  fourth grade math scores and literacy scores. And I think that's, you are seeing the gains through
• 27:09
  that. Where do you see South Carolina leading right now in education? And where is the state making
• 27:16
  meaningful progress? Even if the work is not complete, it's probably never complete.
• 27:20
  Right. You know, I think the, it's hard to say that where we're leading other states because I see a
• 27:31
  lot of what we're doing happening because I kind of keep track of the rest of the, especially
• 27:35
  southeast. You know, a lot of these ideas, we share, we're still in each other's stuff all the time.
• 27:40
  And I don't know that, you know, we may get a little bit ahead of somebody else on this thing
• 27:46
  today, but then tomorrow, somebody else jumps ahead of us on that. You know, we're, we're beginning
• 27:50
  or we're ramping up on our math now that some other states have already started. So that's an area
• 27:55
  that I think we'll, we'll see some more improvement, hopefully some improvement if it, if, if, you know, the
• 28:03
  data suggests, what the data would suggest. I don't, you know, I think it's more just ongoing. I can't,
• 28:12
  I can't, I wish I could say there was something that we had that was just that far away ahead,
• 28:17
  but I don't really think so. We're, you know, we're really looking at, and you mentioned this earlier,
• 28:22
  I guess my biggest project for next year is, is looking at sort of classroom conduct and this,
• 28:29
  the trend to give the teacher more, a little bit more control over, over his or her class,
• 28:35
  and with dysplanary issues and things of that nature. And, and that's very principle,
• 28:41
  centric quite currently, like there are schools that there are, those are not, that is not a problem,
• 28:48
  because the, the approach, the culture that the leadership in the school, you know,
• 28:53
  undertakes. Other schools, it's like, you know, a kid can threaten to cut your head off of scissors.
• 28:59
  You send them to the office and 50 minutes later, he's back in your classroom, you know, he's,
• 29:03
  he's just not, just know, never, they just don't do dysplanary. For whatever, you know, different
• 29:08
  leadership and cultures, review, you know, kind of worldview for whatever reason, or maybe it's
• 29:14
  capacity, you know, it could be capacity that they're, you know, you just, understaff to, woefully
• 29:19
  understaff to the point you can't deal with it, I don't know, can be a lot of things.
• 29:22
  Well, we've talked about where the state stands today throughout this conversation. And so, where,
• 29:28
  when you think about the next five years, what would convince you that South Carolina is not just
• 29:35
  passing education bills, but actually building a stronger education system and you reference that
• 29:40
  in the momentum, but really that that momentum is paying off, what would that mean to you with saying
• 29:44
  the next five years? Yeah, I think we're going to continue to see our reading scores improve. I
• 29:50
  think that, I think we are on the, just a very front end as a long term investment. That's something
• 29:54
  that's going to take a long time. That's the problem with, with, you know, elected officials who have
• 30:00
  a two or four year cycle and a system that you're talking about a 12 year cycle, you know, a K-12
• 30:08
  system or a 13 year cycle. So, it's really hard to stick with a policy, you know, to let it play itself
• 30:16
  out to see how much real benefit does this create. I'm hopeful that we'll continue to, you know,
• 30:21
  stay the course on the reading. I think we will. And I think when you see the success, that encourages,
• 30:28
  you know, it gives you, makes a good case. I'm going to my colleague and say, we need to keep putting
• 30:31
  money into this because it's making, it's making a difference. We do a lot of stuff that doesn't
• 30:36
  make any difference. We try, but it just doesn't work out. Well, this experiment's working out. So,
• 30:40
  I think you continue to see reading. I'm hopeful about math as well. I think we, I think that,
• 30:45
  but when you talk about in five years, Lindsey, I think the, the thing that's going to be the most,
• 30:52
  what's, and most interesting to me and what may be,
• 30:54
  scary a little or unsettling, but, you know, how artificial intelligence is going to impact our K-12
• 31:04
  education system is difficult for me to get my head around. And I believe that in five, I think,
• 31:13
  very easily in five years, we could be at a place where we're sort of laughing about those policies
• 31:19
  we were doing, you know, back in 2025. I mean, it's going to be like, can you believe we were still,
• 31:23
  it's going to be like leeches, you know, you're, you're, you're treating patients with leeches or
• 31:28
  something like that. I can, you believe we were, we were talking about that. You know, we, we are so,
• 31:33
  you know, this is so for a head because I see, I think that AI is going to be a, we, you know, you,
• 31:40
  you, you, we, a lot of talk about personalized education for students. That's a real thing. Every
• 31:44
  child learns differently, different passions, different ways that they learn. And AI is going to be
• 31:51
  able to fill that gap. That technology is going to be able to be a, a, provide that child with,
• 31:59
  with a, an educational experience that is 100% tailored to that child. Now, okay, what's that mean for
• 32:07
  teachers would be the next question. And I think that's, I'm very optimistic. I'm very bullish on
• 32:13
  the teaching profession still. I think that teachers will remain the most critical part of a child's
• 32:20
  education. The technology is a great tool. It will help, you know, it will help fill that, you know,
• 32:27
  help that child fill those gaps in, in a way that, that child understands. And just, you know,
• 32:33
  if a teacher can spend more time kind of on the human part of the student and less on the technical,
• 32:39
  you know, how to teach fractions, you know, that's, that's a, you know, that's a, that's a valuable
• 32:44
  shift. And we know every child learns a little bit different. Yeah, that is true.
• 32:52
  That will help there and allow the teacher to, to your point to stay on the guidance and motivational
• 32:58
  side. And, and truly if they're even having an issue, maybe with a learning disability or something,
• 33:04
  that's where the teacher then can, can come in. It's fascinating where our world will be in five,
• 33:09
  yeah, 15 years. So we're going to continue to have these conversations. South Carolina is not asking
• 33:16
  these questions alone or kind of debating these things alone. Many states across the South,
• 33:21
  really across the country are wrestling with the same issues. So I know that you, again, have had a
• 33:29
  significant role within our region. And so you've had those conversations across state lines.
• 33:34
  Is that where your focus will be kind of learning that next wave of what AI could mean and be in our
• 33:40
  schools or what kind of lessons are you hoping to learn from their states or maybe even ready to share
• 33:49
  from when we have these kind of cross state boundary convening. Yeah, well, I mean, just, I mean,
• 33:55
  that's talking about CSG South and you know, I love CSG South and and you're you and your crew and
• 34:01
  my experience there has been so valuable to me. And, you know, I've stolen ideas that I've gotten,
• 34:10
  you know, I tell you the most, we do a lot of different things. The programs are great. You learn
• 34:16
  a lot from those, but I swear, sitting around a table and just having people talk about what they're
• 34:22
  doing in their states or what they're proud of or, you know, it can be a failure. You know, we tried
• 34:26
  this and didn't work out just whatever story they've got to me has been so valuable and given me
• 34:34
  mode not just good ideas, but motivation where I've got 10 ideas out there and I'm listening to this
• 34:40
  person talk about, well, that's idea number three on my list and then I go, well, I need to put that
• 34:45
  up to number one, you know, it motivates you to really push that one instead because, you know, in this
• 34:51
  role, and this would be anybody, anybody in the general assembly anywhere is you call it, you pull a lot
• 34:57
  of different ways and it's really a lot of times which one is really most important and which one is
• 35:02
  really going to be most impactful and you got a lot of, a lot of pressures to, you know, send your
• 35:08
  priorities somewhere else. And that has been helpful to me. I don't tell you this, we were there, I think,
• 35:14
  but it was last year maybe and and we were in a meeting and somebody and I think it was from Kentucky,
• 35:22
  I'm not sure, but at rep, you know, something, legislator from another state just calls me out
• 35:27
  in the meeting and said, yeah, I was here last year and Senator Henry from South Carolina,
• 35:33
  points at me said, he talked about this and I thought it was a pretty good idea and I called his office
• 35:37
  and we passed it and it's working great. I was like, well, you know, it was, it was so flattering. It was
• 35:44
  really flattering that, that this, you know, stranger who I didn't know from anybody had, he had done
• 35:50
  the same thing that, you know, within, had, had, and it was working, you know, they had enacted it and he
• 35:55
  was excited about it and it's kind of like, wow, you know, so you get, you know, getting the chance to
• 36:00
  steal somebody's good ideas, great, but, you know, getting a chance to share one that somebody says,
• 36:06
  thank you for is really, you know, is really makes you feel good and and a good part of the whole good part
• 36:10
  of the process. That's great. That's how I've been tracking some of these literacy rates and what's
• 36:16
  going on earth, the South and even teacher pay increasing. I know Arkansas last year did something
• 36:22
  on that and I'm sure, you know, several states were talking about school funding formulas and kind of
• 36:27
  saying, how are you, how are you approaching this because some of them have not updated them in 40 years?
• 36:32
  Yeah. So it's, it's a great resource for you all to be able to talk and convene and share your ideas
• 36:39
  and then pull what works and what you think might work for your state and then lessons learned.
• 36:44
  Make sure you share what doesn't. Yeah. So before we close, I want to end with a question, we ask all
• 36:52
  of our guests. All right. What is the best piece of advice? I'm sorry, professional advice you've
• 36:58
  ever received and how does it shape the way you approach public service today? The one that pops into
• 37:05
  my head was, you know, really was to take care of, kind of take care of, have everybody's back, you know,
• 37:16
  have everybody's back and I really was probably, that probably goes more to my days managing a lot of
• 37:22
  people. But it, but it, it works in this, in the general assembly too is to be looking out for,
• 37:28
  looking out for them and helping them feel like somebody's got their back. And, and, you know, I'm the
• 37:38
  elected guy, particularly staff, you know, I'm the elected guy, you throw your rocks at me. It's okay,
• 37:43
  that's what I signed up for. You don't throw rocks at my staff. That's, that's not cool, you know,
• 37:48
  we're not going to have that. And, but knowing that, you know, them knowing, but I try to do that with
• 37:52
  my fellow senators too, that to help you to let them know that, you know, I'm not going to, you know,
• 37:58
  I'm not going to, you're not going to read me talking about you in the newspaper. I mean, it's just,
• 38:02
  I'm going to try to have your back if I can't have your back. I mean, there's some of them that would
• 38:07
  rather me not have their back. Now, there's that too, but, but, you know, I really try to, try to extend
• 38:13
  that to my colleagues. And, and, you know, I think that's, that's probably, it builds trust, it's
• 38:21
  more about this, but trust is kind of grows into trust. Well, it's kind of full circle too. It's how you
• 38:26
  started this podcast discussion with me. It was talking about having the backs of the students too. So,
• 38:31
  yeah, well, yeah, yeah, really is something that we see throughout the work that you're doing. And,
• 38:37
  it's built in Kenvin grain, did who you are. So, um, maybe that's, maybe, I guess you, that's a good
• 38:44
  point. Well, Senator Hembree, thank you for joining us and for sharing your perspective.
• 38:51
  On where South Carolina stands today and where education policy may be heading next.
• 38:57
  I also want to take a moment to thank you for your past leadership with our education policy
• 39:03
  committee at the Southern Legislative Conference. And for your continued contributions in the
• 39:07
  Southern region and across the council's state government's footprints. So, you are, you step in
• 39:13
  the trenches with me often. So, thank you. I'm glad to, you're, you're a good one to be, you're a good one
• 39:18
  to be, be fighting with. That's for sure. So, you've got, because I know you've got my back. So,
• 39:23
  I got your, I got your, there we go. And to our listeners, thank you for tuning in to Real State.
• 39:29
  For more conversations like this and more about the work of CSG South, visit csgself.org. I'm Lindsey
• 39:37
  Gray. Let's keep it real. Thank you for joining us today on Real State where we keep it real about what
• 39:46
  really matters.