COLUMBIA – With a narrow 50.1 percent of the primary vote, Blythewood High School teacher and student activities director Lisa Ellis, won the state’s Democratic primary last week for S.C. Superintendent of Education. Ellis will face the winner of the Republican runoff – Kathy Maness or Ellen Weaver.
Ellis founded SC for Ed, a teachers’ group who, in 2019, marched on the State House to demand better pay and working conditions for South Carolina educators.
She campaigned to cut down on paperwork for teachers and standardized testing for students. She opposes school vouchers or educational savings accounts and has campaigned to more equally fund schools, improve school mental health resources and increase pay for teachers and staff.
A Republican runoff for June 28, could determine the next State Superintendent of Education, since no Democratic candidate has won the office since 2006.
Ellen Weaver, a longtime aide to former U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, leads the conservative advocacy group Palmetto Promise Institute and worked with the SC Education Oversight Committee.
Weaver supports school voucher programs, more choices in education and wants to keep more teachers in public schools. She has campaigned to protect students from “woke” ideologies like critical race theory that seek to “indoctrinate students in a biased version of reality.”
Weaver frequently highlights what she calls Maness’ “liberal record” and Maness says Weaver “is anti-public education.”
Maness, a former teacher who leads South Carolina’s largest teacher’s association, supports school choice for the public school system and wants to reduce paperwork for teachers and testing requirements for students. She also wants more recruiting and retaining of teachers and enhanced school safety.
The runoff date (June 28) will be preceded by three days of early voting from June 22-24.