Dan Stoddard came to Monday night's meeting in Florence because he has five children in home schooling.

He feels the proposed Put Parents In Charge legislation could mean he gets tax money going to public schools back in his pocket.

Put Parents In Charge is South Carolina’s version of school choice legislation that would allow parents the chance to spend some of their tax dollars in the school of their choice, and scholarships would be made available for children in low-income families.

"I'm interested in the financial break it would give us,” Stoddard said before the meeting. “Rather than give all that money to public schools, I can use some of that money for my own children to buy curriculum. That ends up being a lot of money every year."

Peggy Key works at Center Day School in Florence, and she, too, is in favor of “Put Parents In Charge.”

"We go through grade four and then they go into public school unless they somehow get a scholarship to go into another private school,” said Key. “If we had the tax credit, our parents could get a little more money, and it would help us in many ways to make more improvements in the school."

The crowd Monday night heard from former Washington D.C. councilman Kevin Chavous, a booster of the charter school program. Charter schools have taken off in the District of Columbia over just the past five years.

Chavous says encouraging dialogue about school choice and tax credits is key.

"People are afraid of what they don't know. People don't know what they don't know,” said Chavous. “This is a great opportunity for folks to come and find out what school reform is and what parental choice really means."

Two more similar forums are scheduled for Tuesday night: one in Columbia, featuring Chavous, and one more in Greenville, featuring David Limbaugh.