School-choice plan tests comprehension

e-mail this story print this story More details Want to get involved? Pro: South Carolinians for Responsible Government 1620 Gervais St., Suite B Columbia, SC 29201 (803) 212-1051 Con: Choose Children First 1411 Gervais St. Columbia, SC 29201 (803) 233-2425 Related Online extra • Poll: Do you believe the Put Parents in Charge Act will have a positive impact on public education? • Read the bill Related Web site • Read Inez Tenenbaum's view on Put Parents in Charge • Read Gov. Sanford's Contract for Change • Read South Carolina Policy Council report Click on the help icons for information on these links and any programs needed to open them.

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To make his point for school choice — and a broader centralization of state government — Republican Gov. Mark Sanford rode to the Statehouse in a horse and buggy that he said symbolized the era in which much of South Carolina's government structure was crafted.

At Mauldin Middle Wednesday afternoon, Craig McQueen, parent of middle and high school students, said confusion over reports, promises, figures and competing organizations make it tough to figure out what's best. "I know it is to me," he said. "There's so much double talk that goes with it."

The rhetoric of opposing organizations and conflicting statistics about the personal and financial impact of Sanford's plan threatened to leave parents and taxpayers confused about what to believe.

"That's exactly what's happening," said John Simpkins, a Furman University political scientist. "People aren't going to be able to sift through this information and come up with something based on facts."

That also will preclude a groundswell for either position, leaving the Legislature in a vacuum, "without any real guidance to what they're going to have to do," Simpkins said.

Uncertainty mingled with definite opinions as parents arrived Wednesday at Mauldin Middle to pick up their children.

Wynell Baldwin of Greenville, picking up her daughter, Jasmine, said she only wants what is best for her, and "if the school choice plan is going to take money away from those schools that need it the most, I'm not for that. I want it to be fair for all students."

Cindy Kress of Simpsonville, whose son, Sam, is an eighth-grader, said, "I'm not exactly sure if it's designed to help a small percentage of students or a larger amount of students, (but) I think it will have a negative impact on the public school system."

Parents and taxpayers now have to sort through:

— Sanford's "Put Parents in Charge" plan to allow tax credits for home schooling and transfers to new districts or private schools and his contention that it will bring the state's schools into the 21st century while bolstering the state's ability to compete economically.

— Opponents' criticism of the tax credits as a potentially devastating financial loss for public education and windfall for private schools.

— South Carolina Policy Council's analysis Wednesday that the plan is "sound fiscally."

— Two education study commissions, one appointed by Sanford, the other by his top opponent, Inez Tenenbaum, the state's Democratic education superintendent.

Sanford's tax credit plan is part of a larger, sweeping effort to revamp government and education at all levels in South Carolina.

The governor used the horse-and-buggy arrival at his press conference to underscore his contention that state government and education are mired in a 19th century framework.

Later, a new organization, "Choose Children First," was unveiled at a Columbia press conference in which its leaders vowed to "educate South Carolinians about what's really in" Sanford's proposed Put Parents in Charge legislation. The group billed itself as a coalition of business and community leaders, parents and educators.

Steve Benjamin, its co-chairman, said, "The numbers keep changing, so it's hard to get a firm idea of the real cost of this experiment. But one thing is clear: the vast majority of the money will go to families who are already sending their children to private schools."

Benjamin, a parent and Columbia lawyer, was the 2002 Democratic candidate for attorney general.

"Maybe all that money won't come out of public education but if it doesn't, everything else the state funds, from health care and highways to law enforcement and prison guards is it at risk," he said.

Tenenbaum thanked the group for "joining in this fight to save public education." She said Sanford's plan is a back-door voucher program that will enrich private schools at the expense of public education.

A group supporting the plan, South Carolinians for Responsible Government, is pushing it as an expansion of parental rights that will benefit low- and middle-income families. The group also contends that public education is adequately funded and doesn't spend its money wisely.

While Sanford's rig was rolling toward the State House, the South Carolina Policy Council released a study it said showed that his school choice plan built on tax credits "is sound fiscally (and) pays for itself," to the tune of a five-year surplus of $2.8 billion surplus.

In an interview, Tenenbaum said the Policy Council's numbers are "pure fantasy" and cited a 2004 legislative report that forecast a $200 million cost to the state budget via tuition tax credits.

Cotton Lindsey, a Clemson University economist, said researchers analyzed state and national trends and data specific to each of South Carolina's school districts.

He said, "We are unable to find a single case in the five years of the phase-in when spending per student in public schools fails to increase with the introduction" of the tax credit.

Lindsey said public school districts would have more money to spend per child with Put Parents in Charge than without it.

Ed McMullen, the council's president, said the report "has clearly proved what makes common sense (is that) public schools end up with extra dollars when they no longer have the cost of educating a child but still keep the majority of the money that would have been spent on that child."

Will Folks, Sanford's spokesman, said the governor's Education Reform Council will focus on problems facing grades K-12, including the high drop-out rate, funding, availability of qualified teachers, and parental choice of schools.

On Monday, Sanford issued an executive order creating the panel while in Washington for the National Governor's Conference winter meeting.

At the NGA meeting, Microsoft founder Bill Gates called for a sweeping overhaul of a high school system that he said is obsolete and "cannot teach all our students what they need to know today."

Tenenbaum's panel was announced Feb. 18, charged with focusing on redesigning the state's high schools. Staff Writer Patricia Newman contributed to this report.