Mick Zais gets wonderful anti-endorsement for move against Common Core

Pro-Tax, Big Government pundit savages Zais

Zais denounces Common Core and draws
outrage from pro-government columnist 

A vicious media attack of outgoing SC Education Superintendent Mick Zais is a sign he did something right.

The State newspapers' Associate Editor Cindi Ross Scoppe has withdrawn her endorsement of Zais because he has forsaken Common Core.

Her column for Wednesday is entitled: “Boy, did I ever misjudge this candidate.”

Scoppe is taking back her 2010 endorsement because of Zais' “mission to purge the state education standards of any vestiges of Common Core.”

Scoppe claims her anger is because it will waste money.

But last week Scoppe was not worried about your money: she decried a tax break for special needs children because taxes are: “what governments charge people for is the cost of living in a free society.”

Scoppe admits her “endorsement” of Zais was lukewarm at best. And it did not matter because the only Democrat The State endorsed lost anyway. 

The fact is, if an elected official can make The State newspaper this angry, he did something right.

Scoppe goes on to accuse Zais of following an “extremist ideology” and “pandering to his political base.”

She chides him for not being fixated on poor kids, favoring“private schools.” and against more 4-year-old kindergarten programs.

So many times candidates come to the state's voters, and assure us, pre-election, they will represent us well  once elected.

But too many times these office-holders try to please the media.

The establishment arm of the Republican Party is taking heavy criticism for that right now, when it should be capitalizing on the extensive damage the Democrat Party has done to itself.

There is every reason to believe Zais declined a run at re-election because he did not anticipate the extreme opposition he would receive by trying to make education better in South Carolina. Zais had a plan to serve ALL students, not just those targeted for benefits by the left.

Until we abandon leftist ideology in education, and everything else, it will not improve. Zais likely found he was in a hornet's nest of resistance and decided it is too much of a job to gut education, and start over. But that is the only way to make it better.

The freedom Zais has in not asking for re-election is allowing him to do the right thing. Who cares if he is brutally attacked by the media. Ripping Common Core from our system is the best thing he can do.

By her anger, Scoppe tips the hand of the left. It means Zais got it right. Now it is our job to put pressure on his successor to make sure she follows the same path of Zais.