Saturday, January 26, 2013
The battle for school choice cranks up yet again.
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 …
Monday, June 18, 2012
More than 60 percent of influential conservatives responding to our Red Palmetto survey said the session was not a success.
The S.C. legislative session wrapping up this month in Columbia was disappointing to most influential Republicans who took part in our Red Palmetto survey last week. But unlike in Washington, they don't blame Democrats. More than 60 percent of respondents categorized the session as either "very disappointing" (28.6 percent) or "somewhat disappointing" (32.7 percent). Only 4.1 percent called it "very successful" and 30.6 percent deemed it "somewhat successful." Ninety-seven conservatives from the Greenville, Columbia, and Charleston areas were asked using an automated survey tool what they thought of the work in the State House this year. Forty-nine responses were collected. Comments by survey-takers displayed the frustration: "The 2012 …
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
The bill did not receive a good recommendation from the subcommittee.
A bill that would use public dollars to pay for private education barely made it out of a Senate subcommittee on Wednesday. According to The State newspaper, Sen. Wes Hayes, R-York, joined Sens. Phil Leventis of Sumter and John Matthews of Orangeburg, both Democrats, in voting down H.4894, the school choice bill, over the objections of Republican Sens. David Thomas of Greenville and Larry Grooms of Berkeley. The House passed the same bill, 65-49, in March. The bill would give parents a $4,000 tax deduction if they send their children to private schools, a $2,000 tax deduction if they home school their children and a $1,000 tax deduction if they transfer their child from one public school to another, according to a story Patch reported …
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Proponents of a school choice bill held a press conference urging legislators to pass the bill that would allow parents to have more freedom when choosing their child's education.
FreedomWorks activists urged senators on Tuesday to pass school choice reform legislation before the end of the session so South Carolina parents will have the freedom to choose schools that they say will best meet their child's need. "We want freedom," Myrtle Beach Tea Party chairman Joe Dugan said. "Freedom to get the best education for our children so that they can become productive members of our society and not be a burden on our society." "The public school monopoly has failed us and we want other choices." Dugan criticized the amount of money that is actually spent in the classroom at public schools and superintendent salaries. "They build their own empires with wasteful administrative costs that steal precious dollars from our …
Monday, April 2, 2012
Karen Floyd explains how school choice has affected her family.
I am the product of public education: from Irmo Elementary School to a Juris Doctorate from the University of South Carolina School of Law. Likewise our identical twin sons have received excellent educations in public schools from Pine Street Elementary School to the Freshman Academy at Spartanburg High School. I can point to seminal teachers and coaches that have impacted their lives in positive ways, and we are forever grateful to each one. In the ninth grade, however, we made a change – a choice. While one son was flourishing, the other son was not reaching his potential. No fault lies with any person, process or institution. Though it has always been apparent that our twin sons, despite being identical, learned differently, responded …
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
The long-debated idea of school choice made headway in the House Wednesday.
Supporters of school choice won approval in the South Carolina House Wednesday. The House voted 65-49 on a bill that will give tax credits to parents who send their children to a private school, home school or a school in another district. The bill will also help low-income and disabled students attend independent schools. "This is an exciting day for the many parents and activists who have spent the last ten years advocating for school choice reforms," said a statement posted on the South Carolinians for Responsible Government website shortly after the bill passed. "Hopefully this decisive win will produce even more positive momentum as the bill heads to the S.C. Senate." House bill 4894 will provide tax credits to parents for other …
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
A School Choice Bill filed this legislative session would allow parents to deduct private school tuition or home schooling costs from state income tax
It's the idea that simply won't die. Another school choice bill has been filed for the 2012 session of the South Carolina General Assembly by two Upstate representatives and 60 other members of the House, including Speaker Bobby Harrell, have signed on as co-sponsors. "We hope to accomplish multiple things with this bill," Rep. Eric Bedingfield (R- Greenville) said. "Number one, by simply empowering families we are hoping that allowing them to make choices in their children's education will encourage them to take a bigger role in their education." Bedingfield is one of the architects of the school choice bill. House Bill 4894, if passed would allow parents who send their children to private schools to write off up to $4,000 per child per …
Liberal in SC
1:10 am on Thursday, January 31, 2013
Thanks for the good comments. SC has the resources to be a bastion of Education. But lacks the will. If we did ... there would be a Mercedes, Bowing, Ford factory i every town ! more ›