Update: Homeschooler chosen as Chair of SC State Board of Education

This is bad, very bad

Kristin Maguire of Clemson was elected today to be the leader of the state Board of Education in 2009.

Maguire, who teaches her four daughters at home, was nominated from the floor during the panel’s regularly scheduled monthly meeting. The 17-member school board historically votes each December to pick a “chair-elect” a year in advance of when the term is scheduled to begin.

No other state school board in the nation is headed by a person who is a home-school educator, according to National Association of State Boards of Education.

Maguire, 39, defeated Fred F. “Trip” DuBard III’s in a voice vote. DuBard, a businessman who devotes his time raising money for non-profit education foundations, was the preference of a nominating committee. DuBard’s three children attend public schools in Florence.

School board members represent regions that correspond with the state’s 16 judicial circuits and are appointed to four-year terms by lawmakers whose districts are located in those areas. The 17th member is a gubernatorial appointee.

The state board oversees 1,100 public schools and its 670,000 students by shaping policies that affect instruction, testing, hiring decisions and educator discipline.

Maguire has served on the state school board since 2000, first as a representative of her area in the Upstate, and most recently as Gov. Mark Sanford’s representative. Her term is scheduled to expire a year from now and she would have to be reappointed by Sanford to be the chairwoman in 2009.

She lobbied intensively for legislation that created a statewide charter school system and has voiced support for Sanford allies who want the Legislature to OK financial incentives for parents who send their children to private schools or educate them at home.

DuBard, 47, has served on the state board since 2006 as a representative Florence and Manning counties. Among the lawmakers in those two counties who picked him was state Sen. Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence, who frequently has clashed with Sanford over public policy matters.

Prepare for an onslaught of backward-ass, non-evidence based, faith based, hate promoting, anti-science programs.