Mick Zais, President Donald Trump鈥檚 , has some big things in common with his would-be boss, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos.
They鈥檙e both believers in school choice and a smaller foot-print for the federal government in K-12. They both like the idea of a slimmer bureaucracy.
And they鈥檙e both politically polarizing.
As state chief in South Carolina from 2011 to 2015, Zais cut about 10 percent of the staff at the state department of education. He championed a tax-credit scholarship for students in special education, , and an expansion of virtual schooling. He fought against the Common Core State Standards. And he was reluctant to take federal Race to the Top and education jobs funding, even at the height of a protracted recession.
Some South Carolina school choice proponents say Zais brought a fresh perspective to the state鈥檚 schools. But he had a strained relationship with many educators and their advocates. They describe him as aloof, ideological, and largely ignorant of the day-to-day operations of school districts.
鈥淚 had a 40-year career in South Carolina, and I never worked under or with a more inefficient superintendent in my career than Mick Zais,鈥� said Tom Chapman, who was superintendent of South Carolina鈥檚 Anderson County schools during Zais鈥� tenure. 鈥淗e was non-communicative. He isolated himself at the state department. He would not communicate with superintendents at all.鈥�
But Ellen Weaver, the president of the Palmetto Promise Institute, a South Carolina-based think tank, described Zais鈥攚ho was a brigadier general and college president before becoming state education chief鈥攁s a breath of fresh air.
鈥淎s a retired general, Dr. Zais takes a no-nonsense, action-oriented approach to his work,鈥� Weaver said. 鈥淲ith South Carolina鈥檚 education system ranked at or near 50th in the nation, I think many folks outside of the system appreciated his sense of urgency on behalf of students.鈥�
Saying No to Federal Funding
Zais is skeptical of the federal role in K-12. In fact, he turned down federal money for education, arguably twice.
Zais was elected as the Tea Party rose to national prominence in 2010. He made headlines in 2011 when he decided not to go after a special round of that rewarded states for embracing the Obama administration鈥檚 K-12 priorities, including the common core.
The Education Department was 鈥渙ffering pieces of silver in exchange for strings attached to Washington,鈥� Zais said in a statement at the time.
And in 2011 Zais opted not to pursue $140 million in federal funding to save the equivalent of 2,600 teachers鈥� jobs at the height of a national recession. Zais argued that the state wasn鈥檛 eligible for the funding because it couldn鈥檛 meet maintenance of effort requirements.
But Beth Phibbs, the executive director of the South Carolina Association of School Administrators, said the state鈥檚 congressional delegation was ready and willing to craft special legislation that would have allowed the state to get the money.
Unlike Race to the Top, the teacher jobs funding was 鈥渘o strings attached money,鈥� she said. It 鈥渞eally caused a lot of hard feelings鈥� when educators in South Carolina realized money to save their jobs would be divided up among other states, said Phibbs.
鈥淣obody really understood the rationale,鈥� she added.
Scott English, who served as Zais鈥� chief operating officer, stands by the decision. The state, he said, was for failing to meet special education spending requirements. South Carolina needed to pick its battles with Washington.
鈥淭he juice just wasn鈥檛 worth the squeeze,鈥� English said.
Zais鈥� opposed the common-core standards, which were embraced by President Barack Obama and his Education Department. South Carolina ultimately ditched the common core and rewrote its standards, although it鈥檚 debatable how different the new standards are from the common core. He also decided to , one of two groups using federal funding to create tests aligned to the common core.
State Agency Cuts
Zais slimmed down the state department of education, slashing about 10 percent of the roughly 950-person staff, English said. That hurt communication between district superintendents and the state, critics argue.
鈥淭he department of education just became an institution that just passed along regulations and sent out memos, but there was no support and there were no people left,鈥� said Debbie Elmore, the director of government relations and communications for the South Carolina School Boards Association. 鈥淪ome people may think we don鈥檛 need administration and we don鈥檛 need a department of education. But districts need support.鈥�
English, though, said that when Zais came in, employees at the state鈥檚 department of education were subject to furloughs. Some had their time cut by dozens of days per year. Zais cut back on some department heads, but left in place the people who were closest to schools and districts, English said.
鈥淲e overhauled the organizational structure to make it much more efficient,鈥� said English, who is now the executive director of the American Philatelic Society, a membership organization for stamp collectors.
And Zais took steps to ease the regulatory burden on schools, with input from district leaders, English added. For instance, he waived regulations that prohibited elementary school reading coaches from working in high schools with students who were in advanced grades but still reading on an elementary level. And he helped high schools create 鈥渕ajors鈥� to help students better match their coursework to their future career, English said.
DeVos, too, is trying to scale back her agency鈥檚 footprint. She鈥檚 taking a hard look at the department鈥檚 offices and regulations and trying to decide where she can cut. .
School Choice Proponent
Zais that allowed higher education institutions to authorize charter schools, permitted single gender charters, and allowed charter school students to join extracurricular activities at their local school. And he pushed to allow school districts to designate one school each as an 鈥渋nnovation school鈥� given some governing flexibility. He was also a supporter of virtual schools, a model that DeVos has praised, too.
Neil Mellen, who worked on the state鈥檚 effort to enact a tax credit scholarship for students in special education, said Zais was more interested in helping kids find the educational environment best suited to their individual needs than school choice for its own sake.
鈥淗e spent an enormous amount of time at individual schools,鈥� Mellen said. 鈥淗e met with business leaders and community members and was able to use the bully pulpit of the statewide superintendent鈥檚 office to really start to talk about things like what鈥檚 the best use of resources.鈥�
Criticized for Public School Stance
But others said Zais lavished attention on school choice, while paying little notice to public schools in the state.
鈥淗e was very, very difficult to work with,鈥� said Kathy Maness, the executive director of the Palmetto State Teachers Association. 鈥淭eacher morale in South Carolina was very low when he was superintendent.鈥�
And Elmore, the South Carolina school boards advocate, found him to be ideological, rather than pragmatic. 鈥淗e seemed to bring more politics to the office than we鈥檝e had in the past,鈥� she said.
English dismissed those claims, noting that Zais鈥� own children attended public schools in the state. He said advocates accused him of being against public schools because they didn鈥檛 like being 鈥渟econd guessed.鈥�
Zais only served for one-term and endorsed his deputy, Meka Childs, to succeed him as state superintendent. . Ultimately, Molly Spearman, former the head of the South Carolina Administrators Association, won the post.
So what will Zais be like at the Education Department, should he win Senate confirmation?
鈥淗e did not like [professional] associations. He hired some people that did not have a background in education. He took pride in talking about how many jobs he was cutting at the state department,鈥� said Maness. 鈥淚 was very surprised he was the nominee鈥� for deputy secretary.
But Weaver is excited to see him in the role. 鈥淒r. Zais鈥� core philosophy of getting decisionmaking out of D.C. and empowering every parent with high-quality options make him a perfect fit for this administration鈥檚 priorities,鈥� she said.
South Carolina State Education Superintendent Mick Zais is interviewed in 2014 in Columbia, S.C.--Jeffrey Collins/AP-File