Put Parents in Charge is flawed legislation, Tenenbaum claims

By ROB NOVIT Senior writer

The Put Parents in Charge proposal to offer tuition tax credits to parents is unproven legislation and the most flawed measure she has ever seen, said S.C. State Superintendent of Education Inez Tenenbaum at a meeting of the Aiken County Democratic party Thursday.

The bill in its original form would allow tuition tax credits for 95 percent of parents to send their children to a private school or home-school them, Tenenbaum said. It would also create Scholarship Granting Organizations (SGOs) to which corporations and individuals could divert their income taxes and other taxes.

"It's not only unproven but also unaffordable," said Tenenbaum. "The BEA (Board of Economic Advisers) did a fiscal impact study that said this bill would cost the state $600 million over the next few years at a time we're struggling to find funds for public education."

Tenenbaum addressed a mostly-supportive audience of about 100 people, about two-thirds of them teachers and school administrators.

The legislation has come out of the House Ways and Means Committee in amended form, moving toward a pilot project. The State Department of Education would be required to select an affluent large school district and a poor rural one for a PPIC pilot project. Tenenbaum doesn't support that amendment either.

"If it's not good for all the districts, it's not good for two," she said. "We should be celebrating and rejoicing the improvements that public schools are making."

S.C. Rep. Bill Clyburn, D-Aiken, said he doesn't think PPIC proponents have the votes in the full House to pass the legislation. Aiken Board of Education member Larry Murphy described himself as a Republican but said he is "100 percent" against the bill.

"This has brought Democrats and Republicans working together," said Tenenbaum, "all of them saying, 'We're for public schools.'"

South Carolina schools have made tremendous progress as confirmed by many testing indicators and studies, she said. It's not the time, Tenenbaum said, to change course. Instead, Gov. Mark Sanford and other lawmakers should continue to help public schools get the resources they need.

Tenenbaum remains baffled that Sanford was persuaded to endorse a back-door voucher plan that no other state has come close to adopting. Ironically, she said, Sanford's philosophy is 180 degrees different than that of President Bush.

On a trip to Washington, D.C., this week, Tenenbaum attended the White House ceremony honoring the new national Teacher of the Year and all the state winners.

"The president is staying the course on accountability," said Tenenbaum. "He will give more money to the states, but he wants the states to give more money, too."

One parent told Tenenbaum that she no longer has her children in public school, finding them unresponsive and, in one case, discerning no sense of effort from the principal to help the school improve.

Tenenbaum acknowledged that school systems must continue to look for ways to improve in performance and accessibility. But PPIC could create a dual school system through the opening of new private schools as a result of the legislation.

"There won't be any accountability and no guarantee of a balance in terms of diversity in those schools," Tenenbaum said. "We had segregated schools 50 years ago. Why would we go back?"

Contact Rob Novit at rnovit@aikenstandard.com.

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