York lawmakers critical of school tax-credit push

COLUMBIA - Gov. Mark Sanford's proposal to let parents collect tax credits of up to $3,680 to send their children to private school is finding little support among York County lawmakers.

Sen. Wes Hayes, a Republican, and Rep. Herb Kirsh, a Democrat, said Friday they flatly oppose it.

Republican Rep. Gary Simrill said that although he likes Sanford's idea, he won't commit to supporting it until he has a better idea of how it would affect the state budget.

Democratic Rep. Bessie Moody-Lawrence couldn't be reached for comment Friday. However, she has said in the past that she is against voucher programs.

In unveiling the plan Thursday at a State House news conference, Sanford, a Republican, said, "It's giving parents more choices to determine for themselves what's in the best interests of their own kids. Second, it brings a real market pressure to bear on the current system -- something that's been proven to help performance at public schools where similar choice measures have been implemented."

As an example, he cited Texas, where students from the lowest-rated public schools are eligible to transfer to better schools. The Texas Education Agency said last month that the number of low-achieving public schools in that state had dropped to 126 from 205 a year ago.

Under Sanford's plan, which House Speaker Pro Tem Doug Smith, R-Spartanburg, said he plans to introduce as a bill this week, families making less than $75,000 a year could receive credits on either their state income taxes or their property taxes.

The credits could be used for private-school tuition, for home schooling, or to send children to public school in another district.

Critics of the proposal say it would harm public education.

"I think we need to do a much better job of fulfilling our responsibilities to the public schools; we're not adequately funding those," said Hayes.

Using state tax money to reimburse parents for private-school tuition, he said, "is not helping us fulfill our primary responsibility, which is to provide a free public education."

Kirsh said he was asked to sign on as a co-sponsor of the bill, but refused.

"I'm not going to support that," he said. "The majority of our children in South Carolina go to public schools and we've got to protect them."

The plan is technically the reverse of a voucher system because, instead of money going directly from the state to parents, it gives them tax credits. But Hayes and Kirsh said that for all practical purposes, Sanford's plan accomplishes the same goal as vouchers.

Sanford said the public schools wouldn't be hurt by students leaving for private school or home schooling because the school would save the cost of educating them. In fact, he said, the public schools would benefit because the maximum tax credits would amount to only half of what the schools currently spend per pupil.

But State Department of Education spokesman Jim Foster said, "Educators are somewhat skeptical of the idea that somehow, when kids leave the public school system, that helps the public school system by generating more revenue."

On the York delegation, the only potential supporter of Sanford's proposal is Simrill. "I think the merit behind what he's doing is that it really gives parents a great opportunity," he said. "The question is the impact on the state budget as a whole."

That will be difficult to predict, Simrill said, "because you don't know how many people would choose this tax credit."

Sanford, who has three young sons in private school in Columbia, promised during his 2000 election campaign to push for a voucher-type system "for kids trapped in failing schools."

Those vouchers, which Sanford called "academic passports," would have been available only to students in schools that fail to meet state performance standards. The tax credits he proposed last week, however, would be available to the parents of any child in public school. Parents who currently send their children to private schools would be eligible for the credits in later years.

"The original proposal ... would have been a direct payment; this is a tax credit, so there's a big difference," said Sanford spokesman Will Folks. "It makes sense to broaden accessibility."

According to a poll conducted in 2002 for Knight Ridder newspapers, S.C. residents believe that the way to improve public education in the state is to spend more money on teacher pay and preschool programs, rather than on helping children transfer to other schools.

Only 10 percent of those surveyed favored giving tax money to parents so their children could attend private schools, while 37 percent wanted to raise teacher pay and 20 percent favored spending more on preschool programs.

However, vouchers were supported by 20 percent of Republicans, some of who are conservative Christians who send their children to church-affiliated schools or who teach their children at home.