By ALISON GLASS
Anderson Independent-Mail
January 28, 2005

Leaders of several Anderson area private schools like the idea behind a tuition tax credit proposal now before state lawmakers, but they do not expect the plan to flood independent schools with new students.

The school officials said several factors may keep students from going to private schools even if a tax credit is established.
• Parents, for instance, might not have the means to pay tuition up front and then wait for a tax credit.
• A tax credit also would not cover student transportation and some other costs associated with sending a child to private school.
• A child may not meet — or a family may not agree with — private school admission requirements.

Gov. Mark Sanford and others put forth the plan as the result of a commendable interest in improving education, said Karen Holt, administrator of the Montessori School of Anderson.

"I just have questions about whether that particular method, the tax credit, is the solution," Ms. Holt said.

The "Put Parents in Charge" proposal before the South Carolina General Assembly would give tax credits that could be applied to private or parochial school tuition for a child, to home schooling expenses or to having a child attend a public school outside the school district in which he or she lives.

All private school administrators questioned by the Anderson Independent-Mail stressed that their schools would welcome the opportunity to serve new students and have at least some space to accept new students.

Gov. Sanford and other proponents of tuition tax credits have said one of their aims is to expand educational opportunities for low- and middle-income families. Scholarships would be created to help families, said Denver Merrill, spokesman for South Carolinians for Responsible Government, an organization that is supporting the tuition tax credit proposal.

"Scholarships would pay for tuition up front," he said.

Many private schools also cooperate with parents to set up payment plans that can help a family meet tuition expenses, he said.

Tax credits would be particularly helpful to families on the borderline of being able to afford private school tuition, some Anderson private school officials said.

But when a family is on a tighter budget, paying tuition before receiving a tax credit might prove too great a strain on monthly expenses, Ms. Holt said.

"That is where they need the help, not at end of the tax year," she said.

In the Anderson area, the tuition bill for a private school can range from about $2,500 a year to $6,000 a year, officials said. The average is $3,800 a year among the 93 South Carolina Independent School Association members.

Mary Ann Groves, principal of St. Joseph Catholic School in Anderson, said a tuition tax credit does not address all of the expenses of sending a child to private school, such as book fees and uniforms. Another expense is transportation, because private schools, unlike their public counterparts, typically do not offer free school bus service, Ms. Groves said.

"I’m not quite sure, unless there is an allowance for transportation and other expenses, that a tax credit would give low-income children the opportunity that we’re hoping it will give them," she said.

Ms. Groves and Ms. Holt said scholarships would help make private school a possibility for some children. Both administrators said they will be interested to see how much scholarship money becomes available.

Aside from financial considerations, a family and a private school typically must be in agreement about the school’s instructional philosophy before the child is enrolled, said Michael Chivalette, principal of Anderson Christian School.

Many Christian schools in the Anderson area require that at least one of an applicant’s parents is a practicing Christian who is active in a church.

A parent seeking to have a child admitted into the Montessori School of Anderson would have to agree to support the Montessori instructional method, Ms. Holt said.

Several private school administrators said their schools also examine whether a child who is applying for admission has learning or physical difficulties the school might not have the resources to address.

All of the private school administrators who were asked said their schools generally do not admit students who have been expelled from another campus.

"As a Christian school, we hold our students to a higher level of behavior and of dress," said Thad Cloer, director of Oconee Christian Academy in Seneca.

Private schools in the Anderson area also in many cases have academic requirements for admission. Other private schools ask for standardized test results for potential transfer students. The test results are used in part to determine if a child will be admitted and in part for placement of a child within the school, administrators said.

Existing private schools are only one of multiple venues the tuition tax credit plan would attempt to open up to families, said Will Folks, Gov. Sanford’s press secretary.

"Part of what’s happened in other environments where (school) choice has been implemented, what you’ve seen is private, parochial and charter schools created to meet the demand," Mr. Folks said.

Two companion bills, H 3204 and H 3012, have been submitted to the House of Representatives and referred to the Committee on Ways and Means. The full house could be up for debate in the full House by March.

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

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