School choice program would help many, hurt none

e-mail this story discuss this issue in our forums Guest column • Tom Swatzel: School choice program would help many, hurt none (04/25/05) • Chuck Perry and Mark Westmoreland : Join fight against epidemic of premature birth (04/24/05) • Leo Higdon: Higher education funds crucial to America's future (04/24/05) • Maj. Rick Simmons: Fallen Upstate soldier was 'Twice the Citizen' (04/22/05) • Bob McAlister: Reversing our state's leadership drain is crucial (04/21/05) More details Tom Swatzel of Murrells Inlet is chairman of South Carolinians for Responsible Government. He served two terms on the Georgetown County Council. SCRG is a statewide grassroots organization supporting school choice.

At this point, legislators have heard all the arguments for and against the school choice bill "Put Parents in Charge" and must answer one fundamental question during their debate: What can the state do to help create a better educated public?

We believe that school choice is one answer to that question. It's not the only answer and we have never argued school choice as a cure-all. What we have argued and continue to argue is that our public school system cannot provide for every child. Numerous statistics support that claim: 50th in SAT scores; 51 percent graduation rate, which is lowest in the nation; and only 25 percent of eighth-graders reading proficiently, to name a few. Clearly, something must be done in order to achieve more. That something is school choice for the many, rather than the few.

Must we continue to support public education? Of course. The vast majority of children will remain in the public system and it must have the resources necessary to continue improving. My child attends public school and I would not support any proposal that might adversely impact its ability to continue providing an excellent education to her.

But, should we not also attempt to help families stuck in underperforming schools and students not achieving in the public system? Regardless of the reasons why a school is not performing or a student is not achieving, all families deserve the opportunity and ability to explore educational alternatives that might better suit their children.

School choice will allow that to occur. Whether it's tax credits, scholarships, vouchers, grants or some other mechanism, placing children in an educational environment that better serves them is the right thing to do.

Affluent families already have the means and exercise that choice when need be — they can move into a better school district or afford private school. The result of the rich having options and the less fortunate not having them is painfully obvious. It's middle-class and low-income families that need help if the public system isn't working for them.

Nobody can educate a child who doesn't want to be educated. What we can do though, is help those families and students that want to be helped — educate those that want to be educated. Whether or not that education occurs in a public, private or home school setting is immaterial, as long as we're giving more children a better education.

There is nothing that indicates school choice programs hurt public school systems or those students who exercise choice. There is much to be gained and nothing to be lost through school choice.

So the question remains — what can the state do? It can be a leader in education for the 21st century. It can utilize competition and innovation and the market place. It can offer hope and opportunity where there is none. It can implement real school choice.

If South Carolina is to improve educational output, House members will have to be brave enough to embrace real reform and wise enough to ignore opponents who counsel maintaining the status quo.