This is a printer friendly version of an article from
www.goupstate.com
To print this article open the file menu and choose
Print.
Back
Article published Apr 27, 2004
School choice plan dead for now
ROBERT
W. DALTON
Staff Writer
Gov. Mark Sanford's controversial
school choice plan has reached a dead end -- at least for this year.The "Put
Parents in Charge Act" currently resides in the House Ways and Means Committee,
and it will stay there for the foreseeable future. Committee Chairman Bobby
Harrell, R-Charleston, said Monday night that the committee will not meet this
week -- meaning the bill will not make it out of the House by the May 1
crossover deadline."I don't think missing the May 1 deadline for this bill is
significant," Harrell said. "Any kind of controversial legislation would be
lucky to even be heard in the Senate."Having the bill stall this year is
significant to the Governor's Office, Sanford spokesman Will Folks said."While
it's certainly unfortunate that Chairman Harrell chose to put the brakes on the
bill, this is something the governor is clearly going to continue to fight for,
whether it's this week, this month, this session or further down the road,"
Folks said. " 'Put Parents in Charge' is something this administration is
absolutely committed to seeing passed into law."The plan would provide income
tax credits for families with taxable income under $75,000 and two exemptions.
The income limitincreases by $5,000 for each additional exemption.The tax credit
would be used to cover the cost of sending a child to a private school, another
public school within the same district, another public school in a different
district, or for home schooling.Individuals and businesses also would receive a
tax credit for contributing to a scholarship fund. Scholarships would cover
expenses not met by the tax credits to families.The tax credits would not exceed
the lesser of 80 percent of the tuition, or 80 percent of $3,200 for
kindergarten, $4,000 for grades one through eight and $4,600 for grades nine
through 12.A public hearing on the bill last Wednesday drew an overflow crowd.
Immediately after the hearing, a Ways and Means subcommittee voted to send the
bill to the full committee.The bill's supporters say it would allow parents to
decide how their children should be educated, and would improve public schools
by encouraging competition. A Clemson University study also concluded that the
bill would provide a $310 increase in per pupil spending in public schools by
2010.That's in stark contrast to what opponents of the bill claim. They say the
plan will take money away from public schools and funnel it to private
schools.Opponents also say that private schools and home-schoolers would not be
held to the same accountability standards as public schools."'Put Parents in
Charge' is a great slogan," said state Rep. Mike Anthony, D-Union, who has been
an educator for 32 years. "But I'm tired of government by bumper-sticker."All
schools are accountable to parents, but public schools are bound by a
bureaucracy. You want us to compete? Put us on a level playing field and we'll
compete."Harrell said the Ways and Means Committee would most likely meet again
in two weeks, but wasn't sure if the school choice plan would be a topic of
conversation again before January.Robert W. Dalton can be reached at 562-7274 or
bob.dalton@shj.com.