Battle over school choice could stymie SC Senate education bill debate
As state senators prepare to start debate next week on an education bill aimed at improving K-12 public schools in the state, one senator wants expanded school choice to be part of that package.
But the senator who has shepherded the bill through committee says a school choice provision could torpedo the whole proposal.
State Sen. Tom Davis, R-Beaufort, said he wants to expand school choice for low-income students, whether it be charter schools, going to another public school, or allowing students to use public money to pay private school tuition.
“It’s shocking to me we have an 80-page reform bill that passed the House and … is on the floor of the Senate and there is not one single school choice provision in that bill,” Davis said.
He also said a program for low-income students can be modeled after an existing program that helps children with disabilities pay private-school tuition.
“What they’re finding is these families are getting better outcomes at lower cost to the state,” Davis said. “Looking at that as a pilot project and looking at that as a way of improving an outcome for a student, I don’t see why we wouldn’t want to expand that to lower income families.”
State legislators return to Columbia for work Tuesday, after which the state Senate is expected to debate an education bill. Doing something to improve the state’s public schools has been a top stated priority for lawmakers in both chambers.
On Thursday, speaking to reporters ahead of the legislative session, Davis said he plans to propose an amendment that would provide transportation for students who want to attend a school that is far away.
Davis said giving families choices of where they can send their children to school, and creating competition among schools, will ultimately lead to be better student outcomes and better public schools.
State Sen. Greg Hembree, R-Horry, said adding a significant school choice program would be a dramatic change to what was discussed during the committee process and runs the risk of killing the legislation all together.
“If we inject a brand new significant school choice component into this bill then it becomes a partisan bill (and) we’ve just moved away from bipartisan effort,” Hembree told The State Friday. “If someone is thinking that one party or the other like Democrats so want the rest of this bill, they are so clamoring for it (that) they will concede school choice to get this bill, I think that’s a miscalculation.”
Ultimately, debate on the larger education package is expected to last two-and-half weeks as legislators start their 2020 session on Jan. 14, Hembree said.
“I think there will be a lot of amendments offered and debated, (but) I believe we’ll get it along,” Hembree said.
Improving schools in the state has been a large focus at the State House in recent years, especially as teachers began pushing for improvements including less testing, limited class sizes, more days for teacher planning, increasing teacher pay, an earlier start date, and freedom to speak up about how to improve education.
Among the proposals offered in the Senate bill are creating a uniform system for high school students to have dual enrollment in college courses, addressing behavior for school board members, and setting up processes for how interventions into failing schools and districts by the state would work.
The Senate proposal is a significant departure from a House-passed education bill that many state representatives lauded as a massive overhaul of public education. Proposals pushed in both chambers have been criticized for lacking true reforms. A grassroots teacher group has led calls to go back to the drawing board with more input from teachers.
SC For Ed, the group which organized a 10,000 teacher march at the State House last year, has urged legislators to vote ‘no’ and called for a series of smaller bills to be passed instead.
“We don’t need education reform in name only. Our children are more than a tagline on which to run for election. They are our most important charge, and we owe them all due diligence in shaping their future,” the group said in a statement. “Last month we requested an honorable deal, which we believe is still possible.”
Senators already are considering a separate school choice bill, which Davis says he’s not sure will make it to the full chamber for a vote.
Next week, a panel of Senate members will debate a proposal to expand school choice to low-income students, allowing state money provided to schools for their education to follow them to a school of their choice.
But Davis says that route might not be the most effective to accomplishing his goal.
“It’s very hard to get a bill up for debate and voted on by the Senate,” Davis said. “This notion we’re going to handle that on some other bill, that gives me pause. Because I’ve seen bills get tied up on the calendar, with objections and you never get to them.”
If the Senate passes the legislation, a conference committee would need to reconcile differences between the House and Senate versions.
“It’s been long and arduous at times, because it’s so big, and there’s so much to it,” Hembree said. “At the end of the day we’ve been able to find that happy place with Republicans and Democrats on the Education Committee. I am hopeful that would carry over onto the Senate floor.”
As the state Senate prepares to debate its own proposals, House education leaders are taking new steps to get their priorities that senators rejected back on the table — this time in several bills with narrower focuses.
State Rep. Rita Allison, R-Spartanburg, who chairs the House education committee, said Thursday that the separate bills include a teacher bill of rights, asserting that teachers have a right to work in an environment conducive to learning and to have daily planning time, among other rights.
“If they don’t want to work with the big bill, then they’ll have those individual bills,” Allison said.
This story was originally published January 13, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
