Fully half of all State House members are now signed on as sponsors of school choice legislation that would help parents select among different schools for their K-12 aged children.
The bill is tailored to assist low-income students and students with special needs who may be trapped in failing schools or otherwise not have their needs met. This measure will afford parents reasonable choices and opportunities in educating their own children in the manner they deem best.
A House committee approved the legislation by a vote of 16-to-8 Tuesday. The proposal is now set to appear before the full House for a floor vote.
The bill’s primary sponsors are Representative Brian White (R-Anderson), who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee, and Rep. Eric Bedingfield (R-Greenville), a long time advocate of parental choice in K-12 education. In all 62 lawmakers, exactly half of House members, are now sponsors of the bill.
“It’s an important piece of legislation that gets us on the right track to being able to provide opportunities for those who might not be able to have an option, where one size does not fit all in education,” explained Representative White, who testified before a subcommittee considering the plan last week. White also assuaged fears the plan would harm public school budgets if frustrated parents pull their children out. “It’s always been the saying, ‘You’re hurting public education by doing choice.’ Well, public education is funded with sales tax, and this is all with income tax. So it’s really not coming out of the public education funding pots.”
State Treasurer Curtis Loftis has also praised school choice as a major cost-saver for taxpayers. “Tax credits for school choice ultimately save money because the size of the credit is radically smaller than the level of per-student spending in the public schools,” Loftis declared in a sharply worded editorial last month. “When critics belittle support of school choice they reveal both an ignorance of how school choice actually works as well as a condescending indifference about those [low-income families] whom it would most benefit.”
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H.4894 SPONSORS BY COUNTY:
ABBEVILLE – Mike Pitts
AIKEN – Bill Hixon, Roland Smith, Kit Spires, Bill Taylor and Tom Young
ANDERSON – Don Bowen, Anne Thayer, Joshua Putnam and Brian White
BEAUFORT – Shannon Erickson, Bill Herbkersman and Andy Patrick
BERKELEY – Bill Crosby, Chip Limehouse, Jim Merrill and Edward Southard
CHARLESTON – Bill Crosby, Bobby Harrell, Chip Limehouse, Peter McCoy, Jim Merrill, Chris Murphy, Kevin Ryan and Mike Sottile
CHEROKEE – Dennis Moss and Eddie Tallon
CHESTER – Greg Delleney and Dennis Moss
CHESTERFIELD – Jay Lucas
CLARENDON – Murrell Smith
DARLINGTON – Jay Lucas
DORCHESTER – Bobby Harrell and Chris Murphy
EDGEFIELD – Bill Hixon
FLORENCE – Kris Crawford and Philip Lowe
GEORGETOWN – Kevin Ryan
GREENVILLE – Eric Bediingfield, Tom Corbin, Dan Hamilton, Phyllis Henderson, Dwight Loftis, Wendy Nanney, Garry Smith and Tommy Stringer
GREENWOOD – Gene Pinson and Mike Pitts
HORRY – Liston Barfield, Alan Clemmons, Tracy Edge, Nelson Hardwick, George Hearn and Thad Viers
KERSHAW – Jay Lucas
LANCASTER – Deborah Long and Jay Lucas
LAURENS – Mike Pitts and David Tribble
LEXINGTON – Todd Atwater, Kenny Bingham, Marion Frye, Chip Huggins, Rick Quinn, Kit Spires and Mac Toole
NEWBERRY – David Tribble
OCONEE – Don Bowen
PICKENS – Phil Owens and B. R. Skelton
RICHLAND – Jim Harrison
SALUDA – Marion Frye
SPARTANBURG – Rita Allison, Bill Chumley, Derham Cole, Mike Forrester, Steve Parker and Eddie Tallon
SUMTER – Phillip Lowe and Murrell Smith
YORK – Greg Delleney, Deborah Long, Dennis Moss, Ralph Norman and Gary Simrill