By BILL HERBKERSMAN
STATE REPRESENTATIVE

It was a good week for Beaufort County as far as state business is concerned. We worked through the last of the governor’s vetoes and took care of some caucus details. The column this week will speak to two areas of great import to me: education and roads.

On June 5th, H.4662, the elimination of PACT, became law without the governor’s signature. The law not only does away with the much maligned PACT, it also mandates a new diagnostic test that will give teachers quicker results that presumably will be reflected in the curriculum more expeditiously. The bill was simple common sense and most of the teachers and administrators were in favor of it. In these cases, my bias is to defer to the professionals.

As to the new testing, it will begin in 2009. The subject areas will remain unchanged. Students will be tested for proficiency in English, language arts, math, science, and social studies. The performance levels will be simplified to: exemplary, met and not met. Report cards sent to the family will be short, and include an executive summary of the major findings. A fuller, more detailed assessment will be available on the Internet for the parents to access at their leisure. The new protocol has been met with resounding acceptance so far. However, we will have to wait for implementation for a complete evaluation.

As to roads, I think by now many of you have heard that All Joy Road in Bluffton is scheduled to be repaved in the near future. This is long overdue and I am gratified to have been a part of the process. We were not, however, able to get the full funding for both resurfacing and the much-needed pathways. That will be an ongoing pursuit.

One of the take-away lessons from this experience is the absolute necessity for the different layers of government, the overlapping jurisdictions of state, county and municipality to be meaningfully involved in these projects.

Without the personal involvement of Beaufort County Council Chairman Weston Newton and Councilman Jerry Stewart, my efforts would likely not have been successful this year. Our road maintenance regime is so under funded and the system so overburdened that unless we bring every political resource to the table, our needs will not be adequately met, especially in a down economy. We all talk about the need for regionalism and cross-jurisdictional cooperation, but good examples are fairly rare. Fortunately, we are developing an exceptionally efficient team in southern Beaufort County. This is a good example of how working together made things happen.

Next week, there is good news for District 118 and Beaufort County regarding the highway commission.

Until next time, try to stay out of the afternoon sun as you safely enjoy our pristine rivers.

Bill Herbkersman is chairman of the Beaufort County Legislative Delegation. He represents District 118 in the S.C. House of Representatives. Contact him by phone at 757-7900 or via his Web site: www.herbkersman.com