New Senate Makeup Gives School Choice Advocates Hope

Note: Sunday marks the start of National School Choice Week

For the last twelve years school choice legislation has been put forward in the South Carolina General Assembly. And for the last 12 years it has failed.

Last year, a school choice bill passed in the House of Representatives, but died in the Senate.

But its proponents think this year might be different.

After November’s elections, an additional Republican Senator is now in the Senate (the party breakdown is 28R-18D). The Republicans, who are generally more sympathetic to School Choice than Democrats, have had a substantial majority in previous years, but were not able to pass a bill.

If there is a face of the School Choice movement in the Senate it is Larry Grooms (R-37), who is also one of the many candidates seeking the First Congressional Seat.

Grooms said the bill in the Senate (viewable HERE), is very similar to the one that made it through the House last year.

“It’s not universal, which I’m in favor of, but education experts we’ve spoken to support it,” Grooms told Patch.

Grooms said that new members in the Senate, including Katrina Shealy (R-23), who is one of the bill’s sponsors, want to have a debate on the Senate floor.

“There’s never been a full debate on the floor,” Grooms said.

The bill has been referred to the Senate Finance Committee, whose chair Hugh Leatherman (R-31) has not previously supported School Choice.

While speaking to Patch earlier this month, Sen. Vincent Sheheen (D-27) took issue with the term “choice.” “It’s not choice, it’s vouchers,” Sheheen said. “The thing is, there’s no proof that any of this improves education.”

Lisa Wells, who is a member of the Greenville County Schools Board of Trustees, said that her district, the largest in the state, shows that choice can be offered and still keep within the state’s accountability guidelines. Its size gives Greenville the flexibility with transportation and enrollment that might not exist in smaller districts in the state.

Wells also thinks that the voucher aspect of choice gets too much attention. She said she has talked to parents who home school their children and don’t mind paying the school taxes. They are more interested in the choice aspect of the issue than the voucher aspect. “Choice for many parents means they want to have control over how their children are educated,” Wells said.

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