As principal of Glenforest School in West Columbia, Gillian Barclay-Smith saw parents sacrifice to pay $20,000 a year in tuition – taking second jobs and downsizing their homes.
„There is this myth that private schools are for the rich,“ said Barclay-Smith, who left her principal’s post at the private school for students with learning disabilities and special needs in December.
„These are not rich parents. If you have a child with special needs, you’ll move heaven and earth to get their needs met.“
Tuesday, Barclay-Smith and others gathered at the State House to support a school choice bill that would create tax credits – ranging from about $1,000 to $4,800 a year – for parents who home school or send their children to private schools, parochial schools or new public schools.
School choice bills have failed repeatedly in South Carolina since 2004. But this time, state Sen. Robert Ford of Charleston, a Democratic gubernatorial hopeful, is backing a bill, adding bipartisanship to the traditionally GOP-backed effort.
„If you go to a failing school, really ain’t no life for you,“ Ford said in a press conference, comparing Democrats‘ defense of public schools to the Tuskegee Experiment, which denied penicillin to black sharecroppers in the 1940s.
Public school advocates say the bill, filed Tuesday, will drain millions from public school budgets, already cut by $387 million this year because of the state’s financial woes.
„Private schools are an important component in the menu of choices parents can choose from,“ said state Education Superintendent Jim Rex. „But public funds should go only to schools that are accessible to all kids and fully accountable to the public.“
Under the bill, students with special needs and those attending failing public schools would get the largest tax credits. A scholarship program, sponsored by businesses, would help raise additional money for students of low-income families to attend other schools.
Schools that take taxpayer money would be required to administer a nationally recognized standardized test and release their students‘ results to the public.
Other Democrats, including state Rep. Bakari Sellers of Bamberg, say Ford’s plan won’t work.
In Sellers‘ district, all public schools are rated „unsatisfactory“ or „at risk“ by the state Department of Education. He said a nearby private school is Jefferson Davis Academy, named for the president of the Confederacy.
„Would they let me go?“ said Sellers, who is African-American.
But the bill’s sponsors, including state Rep. Tracy Edge, R-Horry, said it is about options.
As a child, Edge was diagnosed with hearing loss. His parents enrolled him in a private school instead of a special education class at his public school.
„Fortunately, my parents had the means to do that, but others don’t,“ Edge said. „This bill will give more parents those options.“
The tax credits would be only a drop in the bucket for some.
Last year, Janet Frazier of Lexington took out a second mortgage on her house and drained her retirement fund to send her autistic son to a private, residential school in Michigan that cost $7,000 a month.
She since has enrolled him at Glenforest.
„Yes, the tax credit isn’t that much,“ she said. „But, right now, we’re not getting anything. It’s a start, a step in the right direction.“
Meanwhile, Rex has rolled out a list of reforms he thinks would improve public schools. Among his proposals:
Requiring all school districts to offer some amount of choice within the district and with a nearby district. The bill was introduced Tuesday.
An overhaul of the state’s education-funding formula, rolling up dozens of budget line items and distributing the money instead on a per-pupil basis.
Reach Smith at (803) 771-8658.