All About the Experience



Thursday’s editorial explains the editorial board’s choice for Horry County school board chairman:

 

In talking with Horry County school board candidates over the past week, the district’s shrinking finances emerged clearly as the most critical issue facing our school system in the coming years. The shadow of the 2011-2012 budget looms large over the election, with hard decisions on how to manage a $17 million shortfall awaiting the winners.

In such a reality, the post of board chairman becomes even more important as a leader who will oversee and guide the board’s tough choices. The current board chairman, Will Garland, brings to the table 10 years of experience on the Horry County school board, as well as decades of experience in education, including the post of vice president of finance at Coastal Carolina University.

Garland’s opponent, Subhash Saxena, also has decades of experience in education, mostly as a math professor at CCU. Saxena, however, is hampered by a common problem among new candidates for political office. Without experience in the system, most of his suggestions for change begin with an extra step, namely learning the details of the district before deciding on a specific course of action.

With a decade on the board already under his belt, Garland is not similarly hampered and can offer actionable solutions, albeit hard ones, such as eliminating at-will employees and extra noninstructional days, and increasing class sizes. To his credit, Garland does not seem to relish having these solutions, but as a pragmatist, he seems convinced of their necessity to keep the district running. He demonstrated his reluctance to making cuts recently by being one of two on the school board to vote against reducing the property tax millage after the countywide reassessment, instead voting to preserve the current millage. The move would have raised an additional $1.6 million to ease the budget pain.

Following the budget, security concerns were next at the top of candidates’ minds. Both hopefuls for chairman showed an admirable desire to do everything possible to protect students at schools, though again Garland showed his realist nature by pointing out that there are tradeoffs to every solution, saying the district must find a balance between schools that look like schools and schools that look like prisons. Both candidates maintained that most of the current security measures and policies are adequate; it’s simply a matter of enforcing them and using the existing measures consistently.

While we prefer Garland’s experience in this year’s race for chairman, we appreciate many of Saxena’s ideas, including his desire for innovation and a more multicultural experience, and we admire his resolution to make the post a full-time job without any other commitments. Indeed, one of our only reservations about Garland is that as vice president of finance at CCU, he faces another budget crisis, and he may be hard-pressed to find enough time for sleep in between dealing with both budgets.

We would urge Saxena to consider running for an individual school board seat in the future, perhaps as a stepping stone to chairman, if he still wishes to take on that mantle after serving some time on the board. In reviewing the minutes of recent board meetings, we noted with pleasure Saxena’s attendance, and we hope that he continues to offer suggestions and seek a role in educating the county’s youth.

In the meantime, as we enter a critical year for our school system, we would feel confident in placing the board’s leadership in Garland’s veteran hands. With a deep finance background and a passion for education, Garland will offer a strong hand on the tiller during the rough seas ahead.

 

 

Garland’s opponent, Subhash Saxena, also has decades of experience in education, mostly as a math professor at CCU. Saxena, however, is hampered by a common problem among new candidates for political office. Without experience in the system, most of his suggestions for change begin with an extra step, namely learning the details of the district before deciding on a specific course of action.

With a decade on the board already under his belt, Garland is not similarly hampered and can offer actionable solutions, albeit hard ones, such as eliminating at-will employees and extra noninstructional days, and increasing class sizes. To his credit, Garland does not seem to relish having these solutions, but as a pragmatist, he seems convinced of their necessity to keep the district running. He demonstrated his reluctance to making cuts recently by being one of two on the school board to vote against reducing the property tax millage after the countywide reassessment, instead voting to preserve the current millage. The move would have raised an additional $1.6 million to ease the budget pain.

Following the budget, security concerns were next at the top of candidates’ minds. Both hopefuls for chairman showed an admirable desire to do everything possible to protect students at schools, though again Garland showed his realist nature by pointing out that there are tradeoffs to every solution, saying the district must find a balance between schools that look like schools and schools that look like prisons. Both candidates maintained that most of the current security measures and policies are adequate; it’s simply a matter of enforcing them and using the existing measures consistently.

While we prefer Garland’s experience in this year’s race for chairman, we appreciate many of Saxena’s ideas, including his desire for innovation and a more multicultural experience, and we admire his resolution to make the post a full-time job without any other commitments. Indeed, one of our only reservations about Garland is that as vice president of finance at CCU, he faces another budget crisis, and he may be hard-pressed to find enough time for sleep in between dealing with both budgets.

We would urge Saxena to consider running for an individual school board seat in the future, perhaps as a stepping stone to chairman, if he still wishes to take on that mantle after serving some time on the board. In reviewing the minutes of recent board meetings, we noted with pleasure Saxena’s attendance, and we hope that he continues to offer suggestions and seek a role in educating the county’s youth.

In the meantime, as we enter a critical year for our school system, we would feel confident in placing the board’s leadership in Garland’s veteran hands. With a deep finance background and a passion for education, Garland will offer a strong hand on the tiller during the rough seas ahead.