House OKs bill giving parents school choice
Much-debated measure could face a veto as it heads to governor's desk
Much-debated measure could face a veto as it heads to governor's desk
It took two tries, but the House on Wednesday approved a bill that would allow parents to send their children to any public school in the state.
The House initially rejected by two votes changes to the bill that came from a conference committee of House and Senate members. The bill was voted down because some lawmakers weren't present to vote or others had questions about the changes, said state Rep. Bob Walker, chairman of the House Education and Public Works Committee and a sponsor of the bill.
In a second vote, the House adopted the changes by a four- vote margin.
Although the bill has the approval of the House and Senate, it still faces hurdles before becoming law. The bill will go to Gov. Mark Sanford, who has five days to decide whether to veto it.
Joel Sawyer, spokesman for the governor, said Sanford would look closely at the measure. His administration has serious doubts about whether open enrollment would provide students with more options, and Sawyer said the worst move would be to pass "a bill that creates an illusion of school choice."
Sanford has been a staunch supporter of school choice options within private schools.
Walker said he's concerned about what the governor will do and whether lawmakers would have the votes to override a veto. Parents and their children deserve opportunities to choose the way they want to be educated, he said, and the bill is the first step in allowing people more choice. The bill won't solve everyone's problem, but it will offer more options, he said.
The bill calls for open enrollment to begin as a pilot program this fall, and after a phase-in process, parents would be able to enroll their children in any public school for the 2009-10 school year under certain circumstances.
Schools must have the capacity to accept students outside their attendance zones, and schools boards will be responsible for adopting policies regarding those standards. The number of transfer students could be as much as 3 percent of a school's largest enrollment over the past 10 years.
After the first House vote, a disappointed state Superintendent of Education Jim Rex encouraged educators at a conference in Myrtle Beach to call their districts' lawmakers to demand another vote.
Rex said he thinks educators' frantic phone calls and e-mails helped change the House's vote and enable the bill to survive. "I don't think it's coincidental that all of this happened in less than an hour," he said.
Reporter Mindy B. Hagen contributed to this story. Reach Diette Courrégé at 937-5546 or dcourrege@postandcourier.com.
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majorjohnson (anonymous) says...
This is just funny. Real school choice eh? Let's see how many kids get out of a failing school. I don't understand why we don't tie the money to the kid and allow private enterprise to step in....well, I do actually. Public education isn't about the kid's education; it's about supporting a government bureaucracy.
June 21, 2007 at 7:46 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Zod (anonymous) says...
Let's place "Johnny" in this setting. It's a one earner family. Johnny has a mother that works two part time jobs and she is looking for a third. The mother can't afford daycare. At $100 dollars a week that cuts into the grocery bill. So "Johnny" stays at the neighbors house with the mother on welfare. The mother on welfare is subsidizing here income with babysitting. The welfare babysitter is planning her next move on the television "Jerry Springer", "Days of our lives", "As the world turns", or "Guiding Light" for the better part of the day.
Johnny learns from the trouble daily. Johnny learns broken english from the uneducated babysitter. Johnny learns from the television (Jerry Springer). Johnny doesn't have color cards much less a board game. The most joy Johnny sees in a day is when he sees his tired mother's face at the door to pick him up. In the evening, the working mother barely has time to clean Johnny up, cook a dinner, and put him to bed. Tomorrow the routine is repeated.
With school lines drawn as they are - what school is Johnny attending? Would it be the schools in the poorer neighborhoods? Is that school funded for K4? Are those teachers/administrators working harder to educate Johnny? Is it easier to teach Johnny than the kid from the "Beaver Cleaver" household? Kindergarden at age 4 is the only hope that Johnny has to remove him from the environment he is in daily. K4 is not mandatory for Johnny. The tired, three job working mother has to apply for K4.
The poorer schools in our community only have funding for 1/4 of these children that apply. After testing, THEY TAKE THE WORST OF THE BUNCH. The larger remaining portion gets another year of "Jerry Springer" for school preparation. Then these kids are well behind in K5. Johnny essentially knows nothing in K5 because he did not test in the bottom 25% to get into K4. Johnny fails 1st grade because he is too far behind the mandatory guidelines. Then Johnny becomes discouraged about the entire education process. Johnny is eventually a "social pass" because his mind is more "streetwise" than the average elementary student. Now Johnny is a burden on the middle school.
You want accountability in the public school system? Start addressing the real problem. The problem is the erosion of the family. Absent fixing families, the answer we seek FOR THE CHILD is to fully fund K4 in the failing elementary schools. I would even go as far as to start considering a K3 program. The earlier we can get "Johnny" out of his environment the better off our learning community will be. If you are living in the "Beaver Cleaver" household let me burst your bubble. There are more Johnny(s) than you could ever imagine.
June 21, 2007 at 11:33 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
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