Issue Position: School Choice

Issue Position

"Spending fails to provide students with the opportunity to obtain a minimally adequate education," the South Carolina Supreme Court found in the Abbeville case. "Rather, the evidence demonstrates that there is a clear disconnect between spending and results."

If we want to improve our system of free public education in South Carolina -- and I do -- we have to start doing something more than simply spending more money. (Currently, our state ranks in the upper half of states in our nation in terms of per-pupil funding, but in the lower half in terms of academic achievement).

Voucher and charter school programs that allow public education dollars to follow the student to the school of their parents' choosing will improve our system of public education. Choice breeds competition. It creates a powerful incentive for schools to get better, while at the same time creating much-needed options for children trapped in less than satisfactory schools.

A recent evaluation of the school choice program in Washington, D.C. found that using a voucher to attend a private school significantly improved students' chances of graduating from high school, increasing graduation rates by 21 percentage points.

School choice is also a way out of the poverty cycle for low-income families. As the Wall Street Journal noted in 2010, 2,000 of the nation's 20,000 high schools produce roughly 50 percent of all dropouts, and African-American children have a 50/50 chance of having to attend one of these so-called "dropout factories."

In Washington, D.C., the 41 percent of students who attend charter schools learn the equivalent of 72 days more in reading and 101 days more in math each year than similar students attending district schools, according to a Stanford University study.

Despite its overwhelming success, many of the leaders in our system of public education see school choice not as an opportunity, but as a threat -- to them. I have no patience for those who put their wants before students' needs.

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