Editor’s note: This article appeared last week in the Charleston, SC., Post and Courier.
A proposal that could send South Carolina parents roughly $7,000 yearly for private K-12 education represents the latest in an 18-year push by school choice advocates, with the pandemic adding to arguments on both sides.
The renewed debate kicked off Jan. 12 with testimony before a Senate panel. No vote was taken on the bill, estimated to cost $35.7 million in its inaugural year, when up to 5,000 students could participate.
But the early hearing, held on the second day of the 2022 session, indicates the priority Republicans, who dominate the chamber, put on the effort. The legislation, co-sponsored by 22 Republicans, is back before the same subcommittee that advanced a similar proposal in March 2020, days before COVID-19 cut all debate short. That vote was tentative, with even the bill’s co-sponsors saying many questions remained.
Support has ramped up since, advocates say, due to parents’ frustrations with public school closures and online learning — or lack of learning — amid the pandemic. The state Republican Party has made vouchers a priority, and the issue could dominate this year’s race to replace retiring Republican state Education Superintendent Molly Spearman.
“A lot of what has happened with COVID has exacerbated the issue. More people are talking about it,” Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, a co-sponsor of the voucher bill and the education subcommittee chairman, told The Post and Courier before the meeting. “It has mobilized a lot of the public who was not mobilized before.”
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