In a recent column, Brad Warthen of The State didn’t bother the readers with an account of the House floor debate on Put Parents in Charge. Indeed, he couldn’t. Instead of having a debate on school choice as a way to improve educational achievement in South Carolina, the S.C. House of Representatives ducked and ran for cover by tabling the bill. As a result, South Carolinians will have to wait to get desperately needed education reform.

Given the result of the floor action, one might mistakenly assume, as Mr. Warthen does, that the people have spoken. Nothing could be further from the truth. Anyone who has spent time around any legislature in the Western world realizes that this is an absurd contention. What happened was certain legislators cowered down to the public education special interests and took a procedural vote. A majority of House members opted to take the easy way out by not debating the issue fully and openly, thus defeating PPIC on the basis of a technicality rather than substance.

Indeed, Mr. Warthen’s May 8 column even goes on to run a sort of miniature “Profiles in Courage” on certain legislators who voted to scuttle debate rather than discuss school choice options. The sad reality is that nothing done on the House floor resembled bravery; in fact, many within the Republican Party and majority caucus saw it as cowardly and insulting. Avoiding a vote and denying colleagues a chance to debate this proposal on the House floor was not prudent, and ultimately only delays needed help for the state’s parents whose children are in failing schools.

If legislators had done their job and allowed debate, a compromise amendment would have been offered that helped those most in need — special-needs children and students in failing schools. The “concerns” that had been brought forth during this entire process were addressed in this amendment, and opponents knew it. So, rather than give school choice and real reform a chance, opponents of reform refused to even address it.

That’s unfortunate for South Carolina. We all agree that low levels of educational attainment correlate with high crime rates, low wages, high unemployment rates, low levels of health, high incarceration rates and low life expectancy and negatively impact economic development and business recruitment to our state. But if given the chance, school choice would help improve each of these statistics. Moreover, giving parents the ability to choose the school that’s best for their child is just the right thing to do. That’s certainly not a “radical” agenda, as his column states, but a laudable goal for the state.

These are the reasons that more than 3,000 parents and taxpayers from across the state turned out on Feb. 15 to make their voices heard to the state Legislature. Legislators felt so besieged by the mass of citizens who came to lobby for reform — on a Tuesday, no less — that they started closing their doors to their own constituents. Ask yourself: Who was more heroic — the citizens who took off work to fight for reform or the legislators who ran away from their work and refused to debate how best to fix the education system?

While Mr. Warthen rightly points out that the fight for excellent education for every child in South Carolina will continue, he inexplicably decries this fact. In the end, it will be up to the voters to decide who was right: the legislators who stood up for choice and the citizens who stood up and fought for kids on the State House steps, or the legislators who ran from fundamental reform.

The coming election will be hard-fought, and House members will have to account for their actions to the people. Perhaps the most disturbing part of Mr. Warthen’s column was its implication that campaigning against incumbents on the basis of their refusal to vote is somehow sneaky. Participating in the democratic process is not unfair — actually, it’s what makes our country great.

Those of us in favor of school choice will proudly explain our support to our voters, as we want to help children in failing schools. It would be fair to say that those who oppose helping these children should also have to explain that position to their voters. God willing, South Carolina will benefit from that process.

Rep. Edge represents Horry County in the S.C. House; Rep. Vaughn represents Greenville County.