A South Carolina gubernatorial candidate has proposed spending part of the state's anticipated surplus of $68 million in the 1998 budget to upgrade "hopelessly out-of-date" books and materials in school libraries, according to the December 17 Charlotte Observer.
Democrat Jim Hodges said the average state school library book is 23 years old, citing one text that predicted man would walk on the moon while another discussed the ongoing Cold War and the Berlin Wall.
Hodges, who recently resigned from the state House, where he served as minority leader, is using the proposal to continue to make education a major theme in his bid to unseat Governor David Beasley.
Posted January 5, 1998.