A contentious proposal that would give tax breaks to South Carolina families with kids in private schools might be dead this year — but this session’s battle has advanced the issue further than ever in what advocates contend is a long war.
The legislative session is almost over, and other issues like the budget are eating up the calendar. A school choice bill, which passed the House for the first time since it was introduced nearly a decade ago, has yet to reach the Senate floor.
Critics argue that school choice gives government incentives for families to bail on the public education system while at the same time bailing out the private school industry. Supporters say more choices force public schools to compete and do better.
This week, the New York Times published a lengthy story titled “Public Money Finds Back Door to Private Schools,” that detailed what happened after school choice passed in Georgia as an example of how “scholarship programs have been twisted to benefit private schools at the expense of the neediest children.” South Carolina school choice advocate Neil Mellon says that couldn’t happen in the Palmetto State. The bill in South Carolina is clear, he says.
“The scholarships are either for low-income kids (measured by free/reduced lunch status or Medicaid eligibility) or kids with special educational needs,” he said in an email.
In South Carolina’s proposal, “these are actually two distinct programs with separate caps and limits,” unlike Georgia, he said, adding that that the bill more resembles tax credit programs in Florida and Pennsylvania.
“They are narrowly targeted to kids whose parents have the fewest live options now,” Mellon says. The latest school choice proposal is a compromise.
Debbie Elmore, spokeswoman for the South Carolina School Board Administrators Association, who has fought such legislation for years, has agreed that this year’s approach to school choice was a “tamer” bill. The bill provides a tax deduction of up to $4,000 per year for a child enrolled in private schools and up to $2,000 in expense deductions for families that home-school their kids. Also, those who donate to nonprofits that would provide private-school scholarships for low-income and disabled students could claim tax credits.
Nonetheless, it remains a controversial issue in a legislature where members have referred to it in the past as one of the most divisive issues in the State House.
South Carolina became a flashpoint in the national school choice movement after former Gov. Mark Sanford introduced it here in 2004. In doing so, he attracted out-of-state pro-voucher forces whose outside money and hardball political tactics have elevated its contentious status.
Over the years, however, the issue has gained ground among the electorate and members of the Legislature.
In 2010, a Winthrop University poll showed likely voters in the state were evenly split on education tax credit proposals, which was a significant change from previously reported negative public perception.
Meanwhile, the only elected official fighting school choice from an institutional statewide elected position, former Democratic State Superintendent of Education Jim Rex, has been replaced by a Republican who is friendlier to the movement.
This week, the American Civil Liberties Union of South Carolina sent out an email about school choice. The subject line read, “Kill the bill.”
The ACLU pointed out that much public money diverted to private education institutions tend to flow to religious schools.
“South Carolina is dangerously close to passing a bill that would allow taxpayer funds to be diverted to private schools,” it warned. “Instead of diverting taxpayer funds from our public schools toward religious education, we should invest in proven strategies to prepare South Carolina’s students for the jobs of the future.”
