Sanford introduces school tax credit bill

Middle- and low-income parents could receive up to $3,680 in tax credits to send their children to private school under a plan to be unveiled today by Gov. Mark Sanford and Republican lawmakers.

The proposed legislation, sponsored by House Speaker Pro Tem Doug Smith, R-Spartanburg, would offer parents whose taxable income is less than $75,000 a year credits against property tax or income tax, according to a copy of the bill obtained by The State newspaper.

Parents could get a maximum credit of $3,680 for high school students. Credits for younger students would be less.

The total projected cost to the state from the credit was not immediately known.

The state Department of Education estimates private school enrollment in South Carolina is between 54,000 and 55,000.

The South Carolina Independent School Association says the average tuition at its member schools is about $4,000 annually.

Critics on Wednesday called the proposal a “backdoor voucher plan” that would “destroy public education.” A voucher plan would offer parents actual tax dollars to spend on private school tuition.

Supporters say the proposal “empowers families.”

The plan is “a very important and innovative, aggressive proposal to bring more options to families of schoolchildren,” Smith said. He declined to discuss other specifics of the bill.

Sanford spokesman Will Folks also declined to discuss the bill, other than to say the governor “is committed to providing parents with more choices, and he looks forward to outlining a proposal that will do that.”

The tax credit idea would be welcomed by leaders of the state’s private schools.

Larry Watt, director of the 100-member South Carolina Independent School Association, said Wednesday, “We see this as relief for our parents, primarily with no strings attached for our schools. It’s a win-win for us.”

The bill is a good step toward “empowering parents,” House Majority Leader Rick Quinn, R-Richland, said. Legislation that gives parents “more options is going to be well received.”

Not by all lawmakers.

Rep. Brenda Lee, D-Spartanburg, said the bill would “destroy public education.”

“I don’t see how the folks I represent will benefit from this,” Lee said. “All parents of children want the best education possible for their children.”

The tax credit would not pay enough of tuition at private schools for poorer families to be able to afford it, Lee said. Even if it did, the bill offers no help for transportation, and many private schools do not have school buses.

“Are we going to pay for that, too?” Lee said. “Once you get the kids in that private school setting, what happens when the parents can’t afford the other (expenses)?”

Because school districts have suffered through three years of state budget cuts, taking even more money from them — whether from state income tax revenue or school property tax proceeds — would be a mistake, said Rep. Joel Lourie, D-Richland.

“It would be totally a huge, gigantic step in the wrong direction to take money out of the public school system,” Lourie said. “But that’s what it’s doing. There will be less money to go to public education.”

Democrats aren’t the only ones with concerns about the proposal. Rep. Ronnie Townsend, R-Anderson, chairman of the House Education Committee, said there are school choice issues beyond tax credits that need to be dealt with first.

“There is an appetite in the House for school choice,” Townsend said. “I’m just not certain what degree of choice.”

Townsend wants a law that would allow students to transfer to any school within their home district. “That’s what we need to address first and foremost.”

Ways and Means Committee chairman Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston, thinks that concept could be added to the tax credit bill. His committee will get the first look at the bill once it is introduced.

Reach Gould Sheinin at (803) 771-8658 or asheinin@thestate.com. Staff writer Bill Robinson contributed to this report.