Tax credit plan no help for education

Gov. Mark Sanford and the supporters of his Put Parents In Charge legislation are using a lot of popular imagery and slick packaging to sell a pig in a poke.

How could anyone oppose legislation designed to "put parents in charge" of their children's education and welfare? Of course no one would oppose such a thing. It would be like speaking out against the "Mom and Apple Pie Act" if there were such a thing.

The governor would have us believe his plan is a school voucher program that provides funds to parents who seek a private school education for their children. It is not. Instead of vouchers that would pay the full tuition for private and parochial school students, Sanford is proposing a tax credit that would defray some of the cost of such an education. The plan puts no limits on how much the private schools can charge and offers poor parents no up-front assistance — parents would be reimbursed only for expenses when they file state income taxes and only if they qualify under complicated financial guidelines.

Sanford says his plan is based on a successful program operated in the Milwaukee, Wis., area. There are only two problems with his assertion — there is no evidence that the Wisconsin program has had a positive impact and Sanford's plan doesn't remotely resemble the Milwaukee one he claims was his inspiration.

What Sanford's tax cut plan disguised as an education initiative has the potential to do is wreak havoc on this state's public education system and be a drain on tax revenue that supports everything from law enforcement to health care.

Public education is the single most important mission of state and local government, and anyone wishing to make drastic changes in the system we have should be clear and honest about what he wants to see happen.

Gov. Sanford has not offered the people of this state that courtesy and has done little more than denigrate the hard-working students and teachers who strive every day to improve public education in the Palmetto State. In his first two years he did nothing to improve the education system that he now says is in terrible shape. He and the Legislature put less money into public education at a time when accountability demands were increasing. Now he wants to throw money into a plan that has absolutely no accountability.

South Carolina deserves more than that shabby treatment and it deserves far more than the Put Parents in Charge Act.

Copyright © 2003, The Aiken Standard