School choice now defunct

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It was about this time last year that state lawmakers killed the first version of the Put Parents in Charge bill. The major problems in that bill remained in the latest incarnation of the plan, so it deserved to be discarded.

Most notably, the plan would provide tuition tax credits for families with a taxable income of $75,000. That's far too generous, and it would cost the state dearly. The tax credits could be used to send children to private school or for home-schooling children. A study by the state Board of Economic Advisors found that the bill would cost the state $541 million by the time it was fully implemented in the 2007-08 school year.

Supporters of school choice presented the initiative as a vehicle for providing choices for students from low-income families who truly lack the sort of educational alternatives available to children from wealthier families. But that assertion flew in the face of the reality: The generous income cap of $75,000 would make tuition tax credits available to 96 percent of the families in South Carolina.

Thus, the plan came to resemble a half-billion-dollar giveaway to families who already have the wherewithal to put their children in private school. State resources are not infinite, obviously, and the plan should have been limited to students from low-income families who are stuck in underachieving schools. Well-to-do families already have choices.

South Carolina needs a small-scale school choice plan for low-income students, but the total costs of the plan must be modest because it will divert millions of dollars from public schools and other core state programs.

In the year after the first version of Put Parents in Charge was rejected, supporters failed to deal clearly with other issues such as bus transportation for students using the tax credits. A concern also was that private schools can freely reject students who are struggling or have disciplinary problems or handicaps. But those are the students who might benefit most from school choice. In addition, some academic and fiscal accountability must be attached to private schools that accept students under a school-choice program.

Some version of Put Parents in Charge may emerge from this legislative session, but prospects are dim. A hope is that lawmakers will finally write a new school-choice bill that will focus only on poorer school districts or students from low-income families — those who most need help to escape failing public schools.