Educators criticize tax plan

AIKEN - South Carolina's education establishmentspoke out Thursday in criticism of Gov. Mark Sanford's call for a tuition tax credit.

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The governor said during Wednesday's State of the State address that the proposal would give parents more choices about where to educate their children.

Some educators, however, said Mr. Sanford's plan would drain tax dollars from public schools already stressed by harsh budget cuts.

"We see that plan as a backdoor voucher, and in all likelihood it will rob school districts of the limited resources they have," said Scott Price, general counsel for the South Carolina School Boards Association.

The governor said the state's public schools would benefit from the competition created by parents having greater freedom of choice.

"Along with reforms we've already talked about on charter schools and making sure money gets down to teachers, the goal of this plan is simple: Open up the education marketplace by giving parents more choices," Mr. Sanford said. "In addition to empowering parents, you would improve the quality of public schools."

Mr. Price disagreed. If public dollars are used in private schools, he said, the state will no longer control the academic progress of those pupils.

"Once students go into that private school system, there is no way to track them, and it goes away from holding students accountable," he said.

There's no guarantee pupils will perform better in a private school, said Jan McCarthy, the president of the South Carolina Education Association.

"I don't think the tax credit will really help because it will not be able to pay for all of the tuition. Those schools aren't cheap," Mrs. McCarthy said. "I don't think it's right to never fully fund public education and now allow more money to go to private schools. It really frustrates me."

Dr. Frank Roberson, associate superintendent for instruction for Aiken County schools, said it's hard to argue about parents' desires to send their child to the best school possible, but he agrees a tuition tax credit isn't fair to public schools that aren't fully funded.

"My concern is that it would cripple traditional education and take money away from schools with the greatest challenges and take it elsewhere, where those challenges aren't as great," Dr. Roberson said. "Things are not equal, and you can't compare public schools with private ones."

Reach Peter G. Gilchrist at (803) 648-1395.

--From the Friday, January 23, 2004 printed edition of the Augusta Chronicle