School vouchers will face fight ‘to the end’ from SC Senate Democrats
An old, divisive school choice debate is rearing its head again as South Carolina lawmakers debate how best to improve education opportunities for children living in the state.
On Wednesday, a day before a Senate panel again discusses a school choice bill, state Senate Democrats made clear they would fight any proposal that calls for public education dollars to follow students to the schools of their choice.
Critics say that kind of policy, more commonly known as school choice voucher programs, would send public money intended to pay for public schools to private schools when public schools already are short changed.
“I know this if we see a voucher proposal come ... we will fight them to the end,” said state Sen. Vincent Sheheen, D-Kershaw. “If we have vouchers pass, we know that means less money for teacher pay raises. If we have vouchers pass, that means less money to local school districts to help our children. We know if vouchers pass, that means larger class sizes, not smaller class sizes, in South Carolina public schools.”
A bill at the heart of the debate would place the state money a district receives for students who take advantage of a proposed program into an education scholarship accounts for parents to use on eligible costs, such as tuition and textbooks at another school and transportation to another school.
State Sen. Tom Davis, R-Beaufort, has said he plans to propose adding a school choice provision to a broader education bill currently being debated by the full Senate.
State Sen. Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, a sponsor of the school choice legislation, said in a recent interview he wants to help children in under-performing schools find other opportunities to receive a quality education.
“I think we really need to focus on poorer students, especially those who are in under-performing schools, because those people are really stuck,” Massey said. “You can dump a lot of money into Allendale. That’s not going to fix the problem,” he said, referring to the Allendale County School District, whose management was taken over by the state superintendent of education in 2017.
“It’s not just Allendale — it’s lots of other places (too),” Massey added.
Concerned whether true school choice would be accessible to all students equally, opponents of the school choice proposal say private schools are able to choose which students they want to enroll and could exclude students at will, while public schools must accept all students in their attendance zones. Critics also say there would be no accountability on how a private school spends the public dollars.
“Do you think an expensive, for profit school is going to take an at risk child, who comes from a poor family who might fall short for tuition money, has a struggle with academics, or has a learning disability?” said state Sen. Kevin Johnson, D-Clarendon. “Or do you think they’ll take the child from the affluent family with good grades? The answer is pretty obvious. Private schools are businesses.”
Being able to take state money allocated for a student and take it to another school through a school choice program has been a topic of discussion for senators on an education committee.
Johnson said he would have to look closely at the legislation being contemplated by the Senate Education Committee before making a decision on it.
“I’m steadfast against anything that will harm public education,” Johnson said.
The objections to vouchers come as the state Senate discusses a large education bill meant to improve public education in the state.
“I think right now, as we’re talking about this big education reform bill, we need to get public education right, before we start talking about vouchers,” said Kathy Maness, executive director of the Palmetto State Teachers Association.
This story was originally published January 23, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
