School-choice proponents are giving it another go – this time in the Senate.
Fronted by Sen. Larry Grooms and Sen. David Thomas, a coalition of school-choice supporters Thursday announced their intention to try to include a private-school option in the open enrollment plan for public schools before the Senate.
Under the proposal, any child attending a failing school but who is denied entry into a different public school would be eligible for a $3,800 to $3,900 „educational opportunity scholarship“ from the state to pay for private-school tuition.
„In essence, it would be (a school voucher),“ said Grooms, R-Bonneau.
The open-enrollment plan proposed by Superintendent of Education Jim Rex would allow students to attend the public school of their choice, regardless of where they reside in the state.
Thomas, R-Greenville, called that a „good start“ at enabling students to escape failing schools, but he added that the Rex plan does not address situations in which families cannot find a quality public school nearby or in which they’re denied admission because of a lack of space.
This amendment gives those students an option by allowing them access to private schools and financial help, he said.
„Where there are failing schools, we will see in a matter of years succeeding students, because they’re going to be in wonderful, enriching learning situations in independent schools,“ he said. „It gives them opportunity. It gives them hope. It gives them true education.“
The Grooms-Thomas plan marks the latest in a line of proposals pushed by school-choice advocates over the past three years – all of which have failed so far.
Most recently, they tried to attach voucher and tuition tax-credit proposals to Rex’s plan when it was before the House in March. But the open enrollment bill eventually passed without the amendments.
Voucher opponents have been just as diligent as school-choice proponents.
When, for example, it looked like voucher supporters would succeed in getting their proposals through the House in March, Rep. Jim Smith, D-Columbia, was granted special leave from military training in Kansas to return to South Carolina to vote against the proposals.
„I don’t know that the Senate has really faced the issue head-on,“ said House Majority Leader Jim Merrill, R-Daniel Island, a lead supporter of school-choice plans. „They have their ways of killing things before they (proposals) see the light of day.“