Time For A Choice
by Johnelle Raines
School choice has been a hot topic lately. With South Carolina's public school's having a poor performance year after year. It is time we begin to look to innovative ideas to improve the status quo.
America is the home of freedom and competition. School choice embraces both of those ideals. The freedom for a parent to choose which school is best for their child's education is a right we should all be pushing for. Children are not creatures of the state. Bureaucrats sitting in offices do NOT know what is best for each individual child. One size fits all education is not working.
Competition has always brought about higher quality in the business world. Common sense tells us it will also improve our public schools as well. At present only the wealthy can afford to send their children to private schools and the rest of parents have to send their children to a government run public school which may be not be providing the best environment for their child to excel.
South Carolina's taxpayers are spending over $11,000 per student, per year with overall negative results in the national rankings. Private schools on the average cost less than half that price per year with better results. Most of the $11,000 presently being spent per child is not getting to the classroom. Instead it is being “lost” in the bureaucracy of government.
Many opponents claim that if tax credits were allowed for school choice we would be taking money away from the public schools and this would further the downfall of public education. This is not true. Pennsylvania, Arizona, and Florida have all allowed school choice to become a reality and in fact it is saving the taxpayers money.
SC House bill 4894 is on the floor now to allow South Carolina parents the freedom to choose which school is best for their child. South Carolina already allows parents to choose the pre-school of their choice as well as the higher education choice for their child. Why is it parents cannot have the K-12 choice which is the most important formative years of their child? The barrier is our legislators...please contact yours and demand they support SC House bill 4894.
Johnnelle Raines
Vice President, Conservatives of the Upstate
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