Gov. Mark Sanford's signature education initiative
for school choice will take another hit today when opponents release an
independent study refuting claims that the proposed Put Parents in Charge Act
would increase funding to public schools.
The study follows the formation last week of a new coalition of business
leaders, lawmakers and education activists aiming to defeat the governor's plan
and the defection of some Republicans who had signed onto the bill.
"We are going to show a more realistic view of what the fiscal impact would
be as it applies to real school operations," said Debbie Elmore, spokeswoman for
the South Carolina School Boards Association, which is releasing the report with
the Superintendents Division of the state Association of School Administrators.
She declined to give specifics of the report before it is unveiled but said
former State Board of Economic Advisors member Harry Miley, who served under
Republican Govs. Carroll Campbell and David Beasley, will present the study in a
9:30 a.m. Statehouse news conference.
The two education groups hired Miley, president of Miley & Associates
economic development consulting firm in Columbia, to review a study released
last year by Clemson professor Cotton Lindsay that said public schools would be
better under the Put Parents in Charge plan, which died in the Legislature last
year but was recently reintroduced.
The plan would grant parents tax credits or scholarships, depending on their
incomes, to offset private school tuition or home-schooling costs.
Advocates of the governor's plan say it will save school districts money and
build a better-educated work force. Opponents say it is an unproven gamble that
will divert much-needed funds from public education.
Today's report follows the formation of a new coalition, Choose Children
First, an umbrella organization of high-powered businessmen and others aiming to
defeat the governor's plan. The group met for the first time last week.
"The mission of this group is to communicate to people that this bill is
unproven, unaccountable and unaffordable," said Rick Silver, vice chairman of
Chernoff/Newman public relations firm in Columbia. "No other state in the
country has done anything like this universally statewide. It's the biggest
gamble in the world."
Columbia businessman and Republican Rick Ott agrees.
"To gamble South Carolina's future on some risky experiment is the wrong
thing to do at this point in time," said Ott, the senior executive vice
president of M.B. Kahn Construction Co.
Choose Children First hopes to counter South Carolinians for Responsible
Government, the privately supported cheerleader for Put Parents in Charge.
"It's just another group that wants to stick with the status quo
unfortunately," said Denver Merrill, spokesman for South Carolinians for
Responsible Government. "Our whole point is that many children aren't learning
in the current environment. If we start giving them choices and get children in
a better learning environment, that can only help create a better-educated work
force, which in turn will help the economic growth of South Carolina."
The governor's office also took aim at the new coalition fighting the bill.
"I think this is a fairly oxymoronic group," Sanford spokesman Will Folks
said. "If they are sincere about choosing children first, then they should be
serious about working for their educational well-being on an individual level
rather than protecting a government bureaucracy. The ultimate accountability is
the marketplace."
The new study and the new group come after two Upstate Republicans asked that
their names be removed from the bill last week.
Reps. Gary Smith, R-Simpsonville, and Gene Pinson, R-Greenwood, say too many
questions remain unanswered about the legislation.
The governor's office shrugged off the defections, saying the bill, which
sits in the House Ways and Means Committee, will most likely change during the
bill-making process, and detractors will come around.
Warren Wise can be reached at wwise@postandcourier.com or
745-5850.
