GOV. MARK SANFORD has one education program he loves to praise. It isn’t in South Carolina. He uses it to denigrate our public schools by comparison.

He did so in his recent State of the State speech, when he cited stories of children’s families weeping for joy when they were selected for the private school voucher program in Milwaukee, then said he couldn’t imagine anyone shedding such happy tears over attending public schools in Allendale or Marion county.

Leave aside the fact that our governor has a blind spot the size of Wisconsin when it comes to the many great things that are going on in Palmetto State schools — yes, even in Allendale and Marion. Let’s turn instead to the program he keeps praising.

Even if the Milwaukee program is life-transforming, the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program bears no resemblance to what our governor is selling here: a tax credit measure known as “Put Parents in Charge.”

In 2003-2004, the Milwaukee program paid up to $5,882 in private school tuition, as vouchers. That is a far cry from the value of the South Carolina assistance, currently proposed at $2,190.

In Wisconsin, the state sends tuition payments directly to the participating schools. If those private and parochial schools admit students from the program, they are guaranteed state tuition payments in no more than four installments spread over the school year. In South Carolina, parents would have to scrape up their tuition money in advance, and wait for the $2,190 credit against their income taxes — assuming they even make enough income to qualify for an income tax break.

The Wisconsin voucher plan provides for student transportation; the South Carolina proposal would not. How could it? We’re comparing a city to a whole state, a state in which we can’t seem to come up with enough money to maintain buses to take kids to public schools.

Private schools in Milwaukee that participate in the voucher program must accept all students who are eligible; the South Carolina plan would allow private schools to reject applicants.

Wisconsin students pay no tuition over and above the value of the voucher; S.C. families would have to pay the difference — potentially thousands of dollars — between the credit amount and the full cost.

But even if Gov. Sanford were actually proposing the Milwaukee plan for South Carolina, there is no way it could work here. There is simply no comparison between an urban environment with an extensive parochial school system and rural South Carolina.

The differing factions in this debate disagree over whether academic achievement has been enhanced among Milwaukee students and schools. But whatever you believe about that, know this: Talking about the Milwaukee program while actually offering “Put Parents in Charge” is a bait-and-switch strategy. What is being advertised is not what we would be buying.

To read all of the series thus far, go to http://www.thestate.com/, click on “Opinion,” then on “Our Children, Our Schools.”