School choice is the greatest civil rights issue of our time

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The arguments against school choice reveal religious bigotry, envy, fear of change and protectionist defense of an education industry struggling to meet the needs of children who will be competing in a global world. The most vocal, organized protesters are the National Education Association, the NAACP, People for the American Way, the PTA, the National School Boards Association, the Anti-Defamation League and the ACLU.

The NAACP, in particular, has been instrumental in preventing poor inner-city minorities from escaping failed public schools, using its tax-exempt status to do so. These organizations want to keep things the way they are for a variety of narrowly focused motives, none of which have anything to do with creating high education standards.

Constitutional lawyer William Bentley Ball asked in his famously argued parental rights case, Yoder vs. Wisconsin, where does education happen? The court agreed that it happens in churches, kitchens and places outside a government building. Yet due to intense anti-Catholic bigotry beginning in the mid-18th century, 37 state constitutions adopted variations of laws called the Blaine amendments to prevent religious schools from receiving taxpayer funds.

The Blaine amendments were the largest obstacle to implementing school choice programs. In 2002, the Supreme Court upheld Ohio's program to use tax dollars for any school participating in the Cleveland school choice program. While Blaine amendments still must be challenged on a state-by-state basis, Supreme Court decisions have paved the way for eventually finding Blaine amendments unconstitutional.

Because important legal victories for school choice programs prove they do not violate the First Amendment, protests now center upon the second "hot button" issue: money.

Thirty years of studies and reports show that the more money poured into public education, the worse the academic results. Will school choice rob money from public schools?

School choice models have demonstrated how tax credits and vouchers will not only stabilize property taxes, but increase public school per-pupil expenditures. When a percentage of students is moved from public to less costly private or home schools, public schools become less crowded, and private and home school growth is encouraged.

The performance of existing voucher programs has also been documented. Studies by Harvard, the University of Wisconsin and Mathematica Policy Research found minority students who had participated in a privately funded voucher program scored 9.2 percentile points higher on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills than the students who remained in public schools.

In towns like Simpsonville, the current school reassignment controversy is symptomatic of a problem greater than unrestrained development. It demonstrates the flawed assumption that only government should educate children. If parents had choice in education, there would be education alternatives other than linking a house purchase to a specific school district and creating tax burdens to accommodate growth. Justifiably angry parents have learned the hard way that their children are, indeed, mere creatures of the state.

Don't be fooled by those who argue that private schools "skim" the best students. School choice programs have been targeted to provide better education opportunities to those that need them most. Does the Governor's School skim students? Or does it serve a need for students whose gifts require specialty education?

Gov. Mark Sanford's school choice legislation is an important step in what should be a long-term commitment to creating a new education model for South Carolina. Legislators should follow the lead of states like Kansas and encourage the building of innovative private schools that are more economically efficient than public schools. If we are to become a high-tech state, we need high-tech, affordable education. In addition, we should no longer protect an industry that has escaped all accountability.

We should support education where it happens, especially where it happens best. All of us need to embrace the essence of school choice: It transcends bricks and mortar and taxes. It is, most importantly, the greatest civil rights issue of our times and key to our survival as a beacon of liberty and global might.