The line is drawn in the South Carolina political sand. Are you, as a public school teacher, going to support a Republican Party that has already decimated your operating budget, cut your jobs, extended furloughs and made your job 10-times harder for the next school year?

Or... Are you going to be fooled and tricked by social issues that are pretty much oblivious to South Carolinians on a mass scale. Must watch out for gays! Can't have an abortion! Really. Does that stop them from cutting money to fund your job or provide a better-than-adequate learning environment?

Are you going to follow or lead?

We have seen Gov. Sanford attack the very system you work in by trying to take funds away to support private schools. We have seen a state legislature do the same, and as recently as this fiscal year, cut your operating budget as a whole by millions and millions.

But public school teachers continually vote against themselves. Is the seriousness sinking in now? Are you all realizing the consequences of voting for rhetoric and getting your job treated like nothing?

This year, you all have a chance to fix it. By putting in a Democratic governor and Democratic lawmakers, you'll begin to see a state government that takes public education seriously.

But, as it does with you and our students, it will mean all of you have to take the lead and stand up for what's right.

Here's hoping you all do.