COLUMBIA, S.C. - Bridgette Reeves enrolled her son in a private school after public education specialists told her to accept her son's learning disabilities and stop "pushing to make him better."

In the past year, Reeves of Lancaster County said the self-esteem of 11-year-old Brandon has improved and he's doing better in school. But the $14,000 a year tuition is steep and she thinks the "Put Parent in Charge Act" would help her meet the cost.

Reeves was one of about four dozen parents, educators and lobbyists Tuesday who spoke at the first public hearing on the plan.

Members of the House subcommittee voted 2-1 to send the bill to the full Ways and Means Committee following the four-hour public hearing.

The bill, which is backed by Gov. Mark Sanford, would give parents education tax credits on property or income taxes to use toward private education, home schooling or the cost of transferring a child to another school district.

Under the proposal, families making less than $75,000 annually could be eligible for credits of 80 percent of school tuition, with caps of $3,200 for a kindergarten student, $4,000 for a student in first through eighth grades, and $4,600 for students in ninth through 12th grades.

Supporters said parents should be able to use their tax dollars to choose how to educate their children.

But opponents of the bill said it lacks accountability, lacking oversight to ensure where the money goes or to evaluate how students perform.

About 200 supporters of the bill wearing bright green shirts asking legislators to "Pass School Choice Now!" crowded the hearing room and overflowed outside the Statehouse building.

Reeves said specialists at public schools told her they could not do anything for her son and that she "should accept him for who he was and not keep pushing to make him better."

It's unfair that parents like Reeves whose children don't go to public schools should give their tax dollars to fund public education as well as pay to educate their own children, said Tammy Philon, a 39-year-old from Columbia who home-schools her 9-year-old son.

Students in public schools receive more than $7,000 per student from all state, local and federal sources.

"We are asking for half of that so that I can educate my child as I choose to," Philon said.

But opponents say there's no way to track how well children are learning in private schools.

The act requires none of the accountability demanded of public schools under the state Education Accountability Act or the federal No Child Left Behind Act, said Molly Spearman, legislative liaison for the Education Department.

Public schools are required to report how they spend their money and to evaluate student achievement through statewide standardized tests.

Private schools would be exempt from that under the bill, Spearman said.

Supporters say it's false that private schools lack accountability.

Philon said she reports her curriculum and her son's progress to a home-schooling organization in Richland and Lexington counties. "I have to keep records that I promise you a public school teacher doesn't keep," she said.