But critics called the findings flawed, biased and intentionally complex.

"If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with B.S.," Jon Butzon, executive director of The Charleston Education Network, said of the 52-page report, handed out in three sections.

The report concluded that the bill, which would give parents tax credits or scholarships to offset private school tuition or home- schooling costs, would save the state $594 million over the proposal's five-year phase-in because there would be fewer students in public classrooms. The state would return that money to the school districts to make up for lost property taxes, wrote Clemson economics professor Cotton Lindsay.The tax credits would actually increase per-pupil spending in public schools, to $12,929 by 2009, the report also said.

The South Carolina Policy Council, described as a conservative think tank, and the national Legislative Education Action Drive jointly commissioned the $54,000 report from Lindsay last fall. It is the first major study for LEAD, founded in 2001 to "aggressively" advocate for school choice, according to its Web site.

Lindsay, who has one child in a private school, said he supported the concept before he began the project. His research strengthened his beliefs, he said.

"I don't understand the opposition," he said. "Competition is good whether you're talking about automobiles or the education of children."

He said the mere threat of children leaving a public school and taking money with them will force failing schools to improve.

The tri-county already has 63 private schools, 21 percent of the statewide total. Their "competition" has not prompted wholesale reform here, Butzon said.

Republican Gov. Mark Sanford, whose sons attend the private Heathwood Hall in Columbia, unveiled the bill Feb. 26.

"I'm here to try new things, and this study is added proof that our Put Parents in Charge proposal -- in addition to giving parents more choices and kids more opportunities -- also provides more money for each child on the public education side of the marketplace," Sanford said in a release Wednesday.

Rep. Doug Smith, R-Spartanburg, introduced the bill in the House on March 4 with 34 co-sponsors, including one Democrat. It has no Senate sponsor. Lawmakers did not do a separate fiscal impact study. The Policy Council briefed legislators on its report Tuesday.

Under the proposal, poor children could get scholarships up to $4,600, depending on their grade level. Other parents who qualify could take tax credits up to $3,680, from either property or income taxes.

To qualify, a single parent with one child could earn up to $75,000 annually. The income threshold would increase by $5,000 for each additional person in the home. The amounts would be adjusted yearly.

The average annual tuition for private schools belonging to the South Carolina Independent Schools Association is $4,000 and tuition at its 94 accredited schools ranges from $1,800 to $14,000 yearly. South Carolina has 372 private (pre-college) schools, according to the state Education Department.

Public schools spend $7,412 per pupil, according to the department. Sanford uses a higher $8,168 per-student average by adding in the cost of capital projects. The Policy Council uses an even higher figure of $8,324 per child.

But spending varies by school. The more students in a school, the less is spent per child.

"You can take statistics and numbers and play them like a Stradivarius (violin)," said Rep. John Graham Altman, R-Charles-ton, a bill co-sponsor, who believes per-pupil spending is even higher.

Lindsay expects a total of 42,625 students to transfer from public to private schools during the five-year phase-in, an 80 percent increase from the 2002-03 enrollment. The more students who leave, the greater the savings, Lindsay said. Consolidation savings would come somewhere in the public system, he said.

"I find that totally baffling," said Paul Krohne, executive director of the South Carolina School Boards Association. "One thing driving their thinking is that there's an automatic savings when students leave public schools."

But one or two students leaving a classroom does not equal one less teacher or a cheaper electricity bill, for example, he said.

"It would have to be an extremely rare situation of, in the same school, in the exact same classroom, if all the students leave, then we see the savings. But how likely is that? The stars just don't line up that straight," Krohne said. "It's going to be one kid from here, one kid from there and no savings whatsoever."

Lindsay tried to determine the tuition, operating costs and capacity of all the state's private schools, but only 68 schools responded to his survey. Unlike public schools, private schools do not have to abide by state or federal accountability legislation, publicize their budgets, or provide any other information.

"This bill would funnel public money to private organizations that don't have to report what they do with it," said Jim Foster, spokesman for the state Education Department. "South Carolina taxpayers won't have a clue how their tax dollars are being spent, and that's a recipe for disaster."

Altman said the bill might not pass this year, since it's getting late in the legislative session. But he expects it to pass eventually.

"It's meeting a lot of opposition. The educrat chorus is whining and moaning ... but nobody listens to educrats," he said.

Butzon said, "I am all for a system that radically changes the educational system in South Carolina. But let's do something that has a possibility of working and that will work for every child."

The state Schools Boards Association and the S.C. Association of School Administrators commissioned their own fiscal impact study, which should be released in a couple of weeks.

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