| Put parents in charge There's a row going on in South Carolina between Gov. Mark Sanford, State School Superintendent Inez Tenenbaum and the state Legislature. In a surprise appearance before a key education House subcommittee, the governor urged that parents who want to move their children into private schools be given a tax credit to help them pay for the tuition. Sanford said his Put Parents in Charge Act would improve public schools faster than anything the state is doing. It would force the public school system, especially the worst schools, to be more competitive. Pupils who were falling behind would get a better education by going to better schools. Tenenbaum disagreed, saying the proposal would take money and pupils out of public schools just as the schools are starting to show significant improvement. But Sanford said the improvements are "incremental" - and that more impressive progress would be made by giving parents the option of leaving schools that aren't serving the needs of their children. He also cited data showing that, in cities in which pupils did receive vouchers or other private school aid, the "existing public schools got better." Tenenbaum countered that South Carolina schools are improving faster than others in the nation and urged legislators to stick with the Education Accountability Act of 1998, which strengthened standards for public schools. The truth is, both Tenenbaum and Sanford are right. Public schools are improving, just as Tenenbaum contends, but Sanford is right to say they would improve even faster by providing parents more choices. Moreover, the notion that tax credits to parents with kids in private schools will diminish the resources of public schools is nonsense. Public schools may lose out in total dollars, but they make up for that by being left with fewer students to educate. Where it really counts, in per-capita dollars, there is no change in resources for public schools - in fact, they may even come out a little ahead. The subcommittee that took Sanford's testimony agreed with him - rightly giving a green light to the tax credit. South Carolinians should urge the rest of the Legislature to follow suit.
|