By ALISON GLASS
Anderson Independent-Mail
April 19, 2005

Local legislators and educators said their views on a tuition tax credit proposal before state lawmakers changed little after the plan was scaled back on Monday.

The Ways and Means Committee of the state House of Representatives approved an amendment Monday to reduce Gov. Mark Sanford’s tuition tax credit proposal to a two-district pilot program. The South Carolina Department of Education would pick school systems from the state’s wealthiest and poorest school districts.

Rep. Ronnie Townsend, R-Anderson, who has consistently spoken against the legislation, said Tuesday that the action Monday does not change his general view.

"I’m still opposed to the bill because it has the SGO (Scholarship Granting Organization) still in it, which allows businesses to make grants of up to $10,000 and wipes out their state income tax liability," he said.

"I don’t really have a problem with parents who are paying for tuition and are responsible for their children’s education having a tax credit or deduction. I’m in favor of them having a choice, but the SGO disrupts the economic welfare of the state. It takes money away from healthcare, Medicaid and other things funded out of state government. It gives people a tax cut that don’t even have children in school."

Rep. B.R. Skelton, R-Six Mile, said he does not believe he has seen the tax credit proposal evolve and still cannot support the plan as it came out of committee Monday.

"There still remains the question of accountability for the expenditure of state money," he said.

If accountability measures were put in place for the independent schools that would receive new students as a result of tuition tax credits, then the independent schools likely would not accept those conditions, Mr. Skelton said.

Rep. Dan Cooper, R-Piedmont, abstained from the vote by the Ways and Means committee Monday. He could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Ron Wilson, the representative of Anderson and Oconee counties on the South Carolina Board of Education, said he thought it would be better for the governor to suggest pilot program sites than to leave that decision to the education department.

There would likely be questions about any choices that the department would make since it has opposed the tax credits, Mr. Wilson said.

"The governor, who is much more removed from the education process (than the education department) and certainly the (education) bureaucracy, probably would make much better choices," he said.

He approves of the general concept of tuition tax credits, he said, but still has questions about the scholarship granting organizations that are part of the legislative proposal and some issues such as the role of the state Department of Revenue in the plan.

Kristin Maguire of Clemson, the governor’s appointee on the state education board, said she would like an opportunity for tuition tax credits to be available statewide, but pilot programs will offer more educational options to at least some families.

"To be able to give any children more (educational) choices is a victory for the children in the state," she said. "At the end of the day it’s exciting that we as a state are saying ‘Let’s try something new,’ because what we’re doing now isn’t working."

The governor’s office will "keep pushing for as many choices for as many parents as possible," said Will Folks, the governor’s press secretary.

"We hope as this bill moves forward that those choices would be expanded and not limited," he said.

Fred Alexander, Board of Trustees chairman for Williamston-based Anderson School District 1, said he thought a pilot project might serve a purpose, but he would want to see only a limited number of pilot sites selected.

"A pilot program might prove to somebody what (the tax credit plan) is actually going to do," he said.

He does not think that tax credits are going to help people who cannot already afford private school tuition, he said.

Mack Burriss, chairman of the Anderson School District 5 Board of Trustees, said he thinks tuition tax credits are a poor idea and does not believe that pilot projects are necessary.

"It seems to me in this case that the governor is trying to establish a school system that is parallel to the public school system we now have," Dr. Burriss said.

Hugh Smith, superintendent of Iva-based Anderson School District 3, and Marty Williams, a trustee of Pendleton-based Anderson School District 4, said they remain concerned about tuition tax credits taking money away from public schools.
Anderson Independent-Mail reporter Samantha Epps contributed to this story.

Alison Glass can be reached at (864) 260-1275 or by e-mail at glassag@IndependentMail.com.

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