ON THE ISSUES - A CAMPAIGN FOR THE PEOPLE
EDUCATION
My Vision for Educational Excellence
Improve quality and standard of education at all school levels
Support struggling schools
Reward high-performing instructors
Support continuous professional training for teachers
Attract teachers to schools in low-income areas
Reduce gaps in educational achievement
Improve Quality. Too many of our students are failing and we are sending them into a 21st Century economy through the doors of an educational system of the 20th century. In our world today, knowledge is the most valuable asset to have, and innovations in science and technology are allowing people to gain the skills necessary to compete on a global scale. As such, only the highest quality education should be permitted at our schools.
Q: What specific aspects of the current school system need to change and how will you go about making those changes?
Support Struggling Schools. I believe low-performing schools can be greatly strengthened with the right amount of funding and with adequate staffing of qualified instructors. It is not fair to allow struggling schools to remain below par. Such a condition is detrimental to the students and the local community in the long run. To ensure the success of our students and neighborhoods, we must improve our struggling schools. We can accomplish this goal by providing necessary funding to schools that fit a certain profile.
Reward Top Teachers. Quality instruction is essential to educational excellence and the teachers that push our students to their fullest potential should be duly recognized. I support pay increases to high-performing teachers and continuous professional training for teachers to ensure the optimal level of quality instruction in the classroom. In addition, I strongly support the recruitment and retention of teachers in struggling schools by providing financial incentives. In so doing, we will take steps toward equalizing the playing field for all students.
Q: What sort of incentives do you propose we use to attract and retain quality teachers and administrators in low-income schools? If financially based, how will they be funded?
Reduce Education Achievement Gaps. It is well documented and evidenced that a gap in academic achievement exists and persists between Black and Latino students compared to their White and Asian counterparts. This achievement gap is a race and class issue that needs to be closed. I will work with school boards, school districts and teachers to promote school accountability measures; promote early childhood education initiatives; ensure high expectations for all students; promote cultural competency; and encourage the use of differentiated instruction methods. These efforts are needed in our strive for educational excellence.
Q: If at all, how can early education programs help reduce education gaps?
Other possible solutions to help close the achievement gap:
Early intervention for college
Extra learning opportunities (after school programs)
HEALTH CARE
My Vision
The health of South Carolinians is of utmost importance to me. I believe affordable high quality health care should be available to all at a cost that isn’t financially ruining. To ensure this access to health care, I will focus on:
• Affordability
• Accessibility
• Quality
• Patient-Centered Service
• Efficiency and Medical Cost Reduction
Health care is a right to all and the government has a significant role to play in guaranteeing everyone proper access to the services they need. In addition, these health services should be available at reasonable costs to the individual. My priority is guarding the health of our fellow South Carolinians by making sure the services they need are within arms reach.
South Carolina’s Uninsured
20 percent of Spartanburg residents are uninsured
44 percent of the uninsured are hard working citizens
32 percent of the uninsured come from low- and
moderate- income families
9 percent of the uninsured are children
The Present State of Health
Lack of health insurance coverage for over 590,000 South Carolinians is one of the state's most pressing problems. While most of our elderly citizens have coverage through Medicare, a greater part of South Carolinians are not insured. Individuals who cannot afford the cost of coverage or whose employers do not provide coverage are left in the dark.
To make matter worse, those with employer-sponsored health insurance do not have comprehensive plans to cover all their health needs. As such, some routine health care services are not covered within their insurance. This poses a great and unnecessary financial burden to individuals.
Without adequate health insurance, people are prone to neglect simple health needs, allowing them to escalate into serious health problems. When medical attention is finally sought, it is through an emergency care unit which ends up costing much more than initial care would have. This higher expense is passed by the hospital or care center unto those that have health insurance. The more emergency cases seen, the more the costs are transferred to insured individuals. Insured individuals see these transferred costs in the form of higher insurance premiums, higher co-pays for doctor’s visits or prescription drugs, and more restrictions on care.
In addition, there are individuals whose employers do not offer health insurance benefits and their only hope of getting insurance is by purchasing individual private coverage. We all know that the cost of such private insurance isn’t within the reach of many.
While Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) help fill in the gaps for low-income children and some of their parents, the reach of these programs are limited. Thousands of South Carolinians without adequate health insurance face adverse health consequences because of delayed or foregone health care. Expanding comprehensive health insurance coverage to all is necessary not only to improve the health of our fellow citizens, but to help in decreasing the general cost of medical care.
The health needs of District 36 are vast and varying. We must invest in high quality and accessible health care services, affordable and comprehensive insurance plans, and preventative services to minimize health costs to all. Attending to these pressing needs will help ameliorate our health concerns.
Filling the Gaps
Health care reform should aim to extend insurance coverage to all and increase access to quality medical services. Both goals are achievable. Working alongside all affected stakeholders in each regard, I will take the following steps to bridge the health gaps in Spartanburg:
Invest in Preventive Services. If illnesses are diagnosed early and the necessary treatments are provided, the cost of care is low and the escalation of the health problem to a serious and costly condition is avoided. If however there is no early diagnoses and treatment, the cost of care greatly increases. To help ensure the health and productivity of our citizens and to help reduce the cost of medical care, I will invest in a strong public health system that identifies problems and delivers care at an early stage. I will place a special emphasis on adequate childhood immunizations, health and nutrition counseling, cancer-screening, blood-pressure testing and similar early detection programs. These preventive programs will help reduce cost and save money.
Reduce the Cost of Care: High administrative costs are continually being shifted onto workers and taxpayers. As your representative, I will appoint a high-level advisory board to make recommendations to me within six months of taking office on how to capture the savings from greater efficiencies. I will look into how current state-backed health and environment programs can be altered to attract individuals and businesses in District 36. Leveraging government’s buying power and eliminating bloated administrative bureaucracy are the two keys to lower rates and wider coverage.
Reduce Administration Costs. We can significantly reduce South Carolina’s medical administrative costs by modernizing our health information systems. Such technological improvements will decrease complexity and increase secure, confidential information access enabling the quick transfer of medical information.
Cut Prescription Drug Prices. It is the duty of the state to act in the financial interests of the people. I will work to reduce the cost of prescription drugs by negotiating bulk purchases and supporting the development of new channels of drug supply. Getting necessary medicines should not place citizens in financial strain.
End Racial & Ethnic Disparities. Research continues to show disparities in health care service delivery grounded in race and ethnic origin. This is unacceptable in South Carolina. As your representative, I will work on ending these inequities by employing recommendations made by public health experts.
If you share my vision and support my ideas to move Greer, Duncan and Lyman forward, or if you have suggestions on how we can move forward together, please join us and visit www.henrithompson.com. On the site, feel free to tell me what can be improved or modified to make health care programs more effective. Remember, it is your government and you should let us know how you wish to be served.
Progressive Work
South Carolina Community Assessment Network (SCAN): Minority Health Disparity Initiatives Database
The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SC DHEC) developed a plan to address coordination of services, the elimination of duplication, and coordinating of federal and state resources toward improving the health status of racial and ethnic minorities in the state. A SC DHEC workgroup developed the Health Disparities Study Report, 2002. This report includes a recommendation to develop a statewide database of health disparity programs and initiatives targeting the minority community.
Suggested Reading
South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control: Strategic Plan 2005-2010
An excellent report on the state’s plans to improve service capacity and quality; quality and years of life for citizens; eliminate health disparities; increase support to and involvement by communities in developing healthy and environmentally sound communities; protect and sustain environmental and coastal resources; and other health related issues. Read more at: http://www.scdhec.net/administration/library/CR-003160.pdf
ECONOMIC PROGRESS
My Vision
I believe the General Assembly can do much more to promote the kind of quality and sensible growth that's been missing in Spartanburg for far too long. I understand the state's responsibility to level the economic playing field for all South Carolinians and to minimize the kind of special treatment that benefits high net worth individuals and wealthier regions at the expense of hard working people in less privileged communities.
Commitment to Community Growth
The only real and lasting way to strengthen South Carolina's economy is to build more opportunities for people to work. Whether we support initiatives to bring broadband technologies to our district, vote for legislation that increases research and development grants for our entrepreneurs of tomorrow, propose new tax incentives for small businesses so they can make capital investments and purchase health care for their employees, or work to expand access to higher education, I am working for investments in new ideas that will expand opportunities for all people across our district and state.
Moving Forward Together
• Invest in the Community:
• Create and Expand Lasting Jobs
• Support Positive Entrepreneurs
South Carolina needs enterprises that spur economic growth while creating jobs and earning solid returns for hard working citizens. By working with banks, loan funds and credit unions, I intend on exploring different avenues for community and economic development – avenues that emphasize local initiatives, private sector opportunities, long-term investment strategies and self-sufficiency.
Positive Enterprises
Economic Development Initiative (EDI)
EDI provides grants to local governments to enhance both the security of loans guaranteed through the Section 108 Loan Program and the feasibility of the economic development and revitalization projects they finance.
Rural Housing and Economic Development (RHED) Program
RHED provides for capacity building at the State and local level for rural housing and economic development and to support innovative housing and economic development activities in rural areas.
Congressional Grants - Neighborhood Initiative Grants
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) authorizes Congressional Grants each year in the annual HUD appropriation and accompanying conference report. Congress authorizes a specific level of funding to a designated grantee, to undertake a particular activity cited in the appropriation or conference report.
Youthbuild
Youthbuild shows young people how to build new homes for people in need, and new lives for themselves. Each year, youths who participate in Youthbuild receive a combination of classroom academic and job skills development and on-site training in a construction trade. With support from HUD, Youthbuild provides funding to public and private non-profit organizations and units of general local government eligible to provide education and employment training. More than $485 million in grants have been awarded since the program's inception in1993.
Suggested Reading:
“Wasting America's Future: The Children's Defense Fund Report on the Costs of Child Poverty.”
HOUSING
Henri' Thompson is committed to providing every South Carolinian
with the opportunity to receive a quality education, from pre-kindergarten
to college or vocational school to job retraining programs.
My Vision
• Promote best finance policies and programs
• Support sustainable affordability solutions
• Encourage public-private partnerships in development
• Collaborate with agencies and individuals to improve finance strength
Affordable housing is important for economic growth and sustainable community development. Proper housing serves as an essential element of urban infrastructure because it is what is used to understand and integrate other important development issues within a community. South Carolina’s housing system is in need of programmatic and structural improvements that will strengthen our affordable housing supply and its delivery systems.
Sustainable Solutions
Lasting change in housing finance is driven and implemented at the level of national policy, regional markets, and local conditions. To create sustainable change, we have to enter into long-term relationships with committed local partners in the housing industry.
Promote Housing Finance Systems. Simply building homes is not enough; we have to create finance and delivery systems to make housing affordable, valuable, and financially transferable. To this aim, we need a viable housing finance system comprised of financial, political and cultural units as well as individuals and organizations and as such, I support the following initiatives:
Housing Trust Fund: South Carolina's Funding Source for Affordable Housing
The South Carolina Housing Trust Fund provides financial assistance for the development, rehabilitation, and acquisition of affordable housing for low-income and very-low-income households. The administrator of the Housing Trust Fund strives to maximize leveraging of federal, state and other housing assistance programs. The Trust Fund delivers funds through established partnerships with other governmental entities, qualified non-profit sponsors, and for-profit sponsors.
Public-Private Partnerships. Housing exists within the context of markets - real estate markets, financial markets, labor markets, and economic markets. Given their nature and complexity, problems in housing finance systems respond best to solutions that work with market forces. Solutions must align the strengths of public and private sectors in order to achieve sustainable outcomes. I believe a human relations component must be added to this network of market systems and housing issues must be addressed with the knowledge of basic human needs in mind. I will support partnerships that promote this ideal.
Power in Partnerships
South Carolina State Housing administers programs that directly provide affordable housing to our citizens. It also partners with housing providers to assist them in meeting the affordable housing needs of the Palmetto State. Non-profit and for-profit organizations as well as governmental agencies can obtain financial assistance from State Housing in order to provide more housing opportunities to the citizens of South Carolina.
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