In May, he refused to apply for grant money needed by South Carolina’s public schools.

In August, he flat-out rejected money from the federal Education Jobs fund. 

Last month, he snubbed opportunity to participate in a cost-free program that made schools eligible for financial rewards.

And this week, Mick Zais is refusing to tell anyone – even the South Carolina Dept. of Education he represents as Superintendent – about any other money available for use by the state’s cash-strapped schools.

According to The State, the SCDE board of directors issued instructions to Zais that he provide monthly updates on alternate sources of funding, including grants from both private organizations and the federal government, that could individually provide at least $10 million per application. He would also have to detail his decision on why he’d pursue or reject those grants. His first report was to be provided by Dec. 8.

Zais openly refused those instructions, however, declaring the board’s request to be a display of he called “partisan politics(.)”

“I will not abide by the unprecedented political power grab that this policy statement represents,” Zais said at the board’s last meeting.

SCDE’s board argues that its goals in the recent order are anything but political, however.  Instead, according to 16 of its 17 members, the board was only interested in acquiring needed funding to accommodate budget shortages.

“If the money is there, significant amounts of money, it should be brought to the attention of the board and we should discuss whether to apply for it,” said SCDE board member Tim Moore. “It ought to be a cooperative effort.”

Beginning in the 2006-07 fiscal year, the Act 388 previously passed by the state legislature removed property taxes as a source for school funding in exchange for sales taxes.

The economic recession that hindered retail sales and collection of sales taxes began shortly after, making the risks of such variable funding come to light.

Total school funding dropped approximately $800 million since 2007-08, according to the South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center, and SCDE’s operating budget is now the lowest it’s been in 17 years.

Approximately 1,400 school teachers have been laid off, while the salaries of those still employed by the state have been cut by approximately $20 million. 

The only SCDE board member siding with Zais is Michael Brenan, the sole appointee to SCDE by Gov. Nikki Haley.  Earlier this year, Haley openly supported Zais’ decision to refuse the Education Jobs funding.

Brenan said he was “opposed to anything” SCDE would request of Zais, who Brenan says is only obligated to voters.

Zais’ spokesman Jay Ragley iterates Brenan’s opinion. “The state board of education doesn’t operate the department of education,” Ragley told Associated Press.

SCDE chairperson Gerrita Postlewait disagrees with that statement, however, especially regarding this particular circumstance that includes seeking government grants. “It’s our federal tax dollars as well.”

Zais has continuously sought to remove any presence of the federal government, though.

In May of 2011, shortly after taking office in January, Zais refused to apply for a “Race to the Top” federal grant, which the state had continuously sought for the past two years. “Schools need less, not more, federal intrusion,” he said in explanation.

South Carolina was of guaranteed status to receive funding from this program, according to Molly Spearman, executive director of the state’s Association of School Administrators.

In August, Zais rejected $149 million in next-phase funding from the American Jobs Act. After his written refusal, the money was sent to other states even though it consisted of funds derived from South Carolina taxpayers. In written refusal to the U.S. Dept. of Education, he stated the Act was only an attempt to “inject Washington politics into South Carolina’s affairs.”  Gov. Haley openly supported Zais’ decision.

Approximately 6,400 teaching jobs in the state were preserved by the American Jobs Act when first instituted in 2009, and are again at risk due to lack of state funding.

Last month, Zais announced refusal to participate in the “Green-Ribbon Schools” program, a new federal awards plan that would award schools making efforts to reduce environmental impacts upon their communities.   

There is no spending required from a school seeking nomination, but he claimed the program would be a “financial cost that will be borne by state and local taxpayers.” In a letter of rejection to the U.S. Dept. of Education, Zais said the award program was only “placating environmental lobbyists.” 

Mick Zais, superintendent of South Carolina’s Dept. of Education, recently refused $149 million in federal funding for our state’s schools. The federal government has no right to contribute to South Carolina’s public education, he said.

Instead, that money – which is directly derived from the taxes we ourselves pay – is now going to schools in the other 49 states, District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.  South Carolina is the only one left out of the picture.

And after recent final notice from the U.S. Dept. of Education, Zais finalized that rejection with bitterness, claiming that last contact to be example of “wasted taxpayers’ resources(.)”

But where does that leave us South Carolina taxpayers, who are the source of that $149 million? This rejection of our own tax money to our own schools (which are currently operating at their lowest budget in 20 years and at risk of massive layoffs) is nothing but a prime example of “wasted taxpayers’ resources” in and of itself.

And who says we have to take it lightly? While it certainly leaves us and our children (not to mention the future of our state) hanging dry, it doesn’t have to leave us silent.

That’s why you’ll find documents on this page that you can download and submit to Zais as a billing statement to recover your loss.

That’s right – a bill. It was your money he threw away, after all. And you have every right to request it be returned to you.

Here's the body of its content:

“According to the U.S. Bureau of the Census in its most recent data from 2010 surveys, the total population of South Carolina is 4,625,364. (For confirmation, please see: http://2010.census.gov/news/pdf/cb11cn112_sc_totalpop_2010map.pdf)

As a result, the $149 million in federal funding offered to our state’s public schools amounts to $32.21 per South Carolina resident.

Following your rejection of this funding, which is derived directly from the income taxes we South Carolinians pay to the federal government, I am left with no other choice but to seek personal compensation of those now-lost funds, which we recently learned are going to benefit all other states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia instead of our own.

This submission, then, is a bill. I now find you and your office to owe me the $32.21 of my tax dollars you decided to waste and give away.”

The billing statement (available in both the 07 and 03 versions of MS Word) can be downloaded right here. The submission address is included on the document, too, and even a clippable statement for him to include with his payment. All you have to do is add your name and address, along with the date of submittal.

Feel free to make any changes you like, of course. But please send Zais the statement. Those were your tax dollars for education in your state, and which could have benefited South Carolina in so many residual ways (employment, earnings, job retention, new business development, etc.). 

Federal funding originally intended for South Carolina public schools is now going to other states instead.  But not because the U.S. Dept. of Education planned it that way.

In a letter issued yesterday, state Supt. of Education Mick Zais formally refused $149 million in funds allotted specifically for South Carolina, which will now be added to the funds distributed to the remaining 49 states, as well as Dist. of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

And why is that? Because the federal government has no role in our state’s schools, Zais says in this latest of funding refusals.

The U.S. Dept. of Education sent multiple reminders of application for the “Edu Jobs” program, which was approved by congress last September, but never received response from Zais’ office.

According to the Post & Courier, Ann Whalen recently made a last contact with Zais reminding him of an upcoming deadline. “We hope that teachers and students in South Carolina will be able to benefit from these funds,” the USDE Deputy Director wrote on August 5.

The reminder was bitterly received, however. In a written reply submitted yesterday, Zais told Whalen “I regret that your agency wasted taxpayers’ resources to inform the state again about something it and USDE already knew.

“Instead, your letter appears as another attempt to inject Washington politics into South Carolina’s affairs.”

Edu Jobs was created to help states prevent teacher layoffs, hire new staff and award overdue pay raises.

The absence of this particular funding, which could have paid the salaries of over 3,000 public school employees in South Carolina, could result in layoffs. Public school teachers in the state have not had any pay increase in over three years, as well.

The effect on school employment in the state is a top complaint of the South Carolina Association of School Administrators.

“This is about jobs,” says Molly Spearman, executive director of SCASA, who says the employment creation and preservation the funding would have provided would also have benefited the state in other ways, too. “(Edu Jobs) would go to people who would be working in South Carolina – buying groceries, paying taxes.

“It was a way to jumpstart our economy,” she offers.

SCASA anticipated these funding problems after Zais’ election last year, though.  School districts are now using “already dwindling” reserve funds to preserve jobs, Spearman says.

The resultant employment-stifling leaves South Carolina in jeopardy of losing qualified educators, too. Citing one recent example of 65 applicants for a single 1st grade teacher’s job as an example, Spearman believes many South Carolinians who just graduated with degrees in education will be forced to move out of state in search of employment.  Current teachers facing unemployment risks due to lack of funding will have to do the same, too.

“This whole ideology is disturbing,” Spearman says.

The funding rejection is also supported by Gov. Haley, whose spokesman Rob Godfrey told the Post & Courier “the solution to our education challenges is not a federal bailout.”

Refusal of participation in Edu Jobs is just the latest funding rejection by Zais. Earlier this year, he withdrew the state from federal “Race to the Top” grant applications, as well, and for the same reasons.  

The grant “expands the federal role in education by offering pieces of silver in exchange for strings attached to Washington,” Zais stated in a May 25 press release. “Schools need less, not more, federal intrusion to increase student achievement.”

SCDE participated in “Race to the Top” in the 2009 and 2010. Grants ranging from $10 million to $50 million were to be awarded to nine qualifying states in 2011.

South Carolina was of guaranteed status to receive “Race to the Top” funding this year, Spearman says.

SCDE annual budgets have been reduced by $75 million since the 2006-07 fiscal year following passage of Act 388, which removed property taxes as a source for school funding in exchange for sales taxes. Budgets for particular programs such as students’ meals and health services have been cut in half.

Last year, Zais took the GOP nomination for the office in June’s primary with 54.2 percent of the vote, and won the November general election with 51.3 percent.