Having served on several citizens’ groups advocating school construction and the related bond indebtedness used to finance them and the board of trustees for a private military school, I have an opinion on Gov. Mark Sanford’s proposed school tax credit plan.

Timing of the four variables is the hard part of the construction process. When do you (1) ask the voters for bond authority so that (2) the bonds can get issued so that (3) the schools will be built in time to (4) accommodate the projected numbers of students? When that timing is off-schedule, the consequences are students in portable classrooms. I’ve never seen a competent study that concludes students perform better in portable classrooms.

I also believe the public schools have a covenant with the people that as long as there is a kid who is eligible to attend, the public schools will provide a seat, teacher and books.

If only a few students in every public school are moved by their parents to home-schooling or private schools as a result of Sanford’s program, my guess is that the school infrastructure will not be significantly affected. But what if the parents of a substantial number of students, say 3,000, decided to move their children from Richland 1 and 2 and these students were all accepted at the three largest private schools in Columbia? Since private schools cannot expand like an accordion, the only choice the private schools have is to rent portable classrooms and make last-minute hires of teachers and book purchases. For their money, these parents have just purchased the same troubles their former districts contended with.

Fast forward to the next school year; those same parents are tired of portable classrooms and now want to exercise their covenant with the public schools. They re-enter their children in the district schools. Again, not being built like an accordion, the districts have to rent portable classrooms, hire teachers and buy books. So what did these parents provide to their kids from this voucher adventure? Substandard infrastructure for at least two years.

If Gov. Sanford is going to insist on making this mess with the covenant, he should have the courage to be responsible for cleaning it up. As it is today, when there isn’t enough infrastructure, the citizens look to the local school board to vent their concerns and focus their election votes.

Gov. Sanford can take responsibility by proposing legislation to make the school infrastructure state property, just like the roads and bridges. So when there is shortage of infrastructure and the parents are demanding construction, the state will be the responsible party that answers their concerns and builds the schools for the districts. If the progress isn’t fast enough, then it will be the votes for the governor that will reflect parents’ concerns.

On the other hand, if Gov. Sanford is not willing to clean up the mess caused by his program, then he shouldn’t cause the mess in the first place. Let this voucher/credit proposal morph into what it should be: an intellectual exercise for wonks or perhaps a topic for dinner party conversation.

JAMES M. HOLLOWAY JR.

Columbia