School Voucher Bill

Last month, the South Carolina Senate passed the so called “Voucher Bill,” which helps parents pay for private K-12 tuition though public tax credits. This divisive bit of legislation is part of a post pandemic “red wave” that has started to take shape across our nation, with various strains in Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, Oregon, Texas, and Utah. It is also related to efforts by some private institutions previously denied access to Cares Act Funds during the pandemic to obtain such funds. Extremists left over from the 45th President’s policy cabal are supporters of the efforts to dictate public education curriculum and control the makeup of local school boards.

This decision, in my opinion, signals the beginning of the end of public schools as they have been constituted since 1958. It was at that time that enrollment in private schools, particularly in the South Carolina, exploded. The correlation between this proliferation and desegregation legislation is quite obvious. The impact of this current “Voucher Bill” on public schools will be much like that which was seen in the 1960’s. I know that many of the state’s charter schools are racially imbalanced and we should expect the same to happen to those public schools that are already on the brink of such a designation. Here are but a few questions I would pose to members of the Florence Legislative delegation and to the South Carolina General Assembly as a whole:

1. How will the exodus of teachers from public schools to private schools that is bound to follow be addressed?
2. Obivously student achievement is important. Will those private schools receiving public dollars be held to the same assessment and accountability mandates as public schools?

3. The good old Blaine Amendment, which is still included in the South Carolina Constitution, states, “No money shall be paid from public funds nor shall the credit of the state or any of its subdivisions be used for the direct benefit of any religious or other private educational institution.” Has this amendment been repealed?
Much like those who cry out about efforts to rewrite the sordid history of this great land, I cry out about this trend of cherry picking the constitution of this state and this nation.

I believe that South Carolina’s funding system for public schools has long been broken; but the General Assembly’s time would have been better spent equalizing the manner by which it funds schools and effectively addressing some of the many problems that exist in today’s public schools. Maybe some time should also have been spent investigating how the state’s chief accountant recently made a 3.5-billion-dollar accounting error. To quote G.B. Shaw, “A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul!”