Privatizing public schools in South Carolina?

There is currently a voucher bill in the SC Senate.  This letter appeared in the Charleston Post and Courier in response to that bill and its celebrated authors:

Privatizing public schools would be wrong choice for S.C.

Saturday, March 7, 2009

BY JON BUTZON and THE REV. JOSEPH A. DARBY

Charleston Sen. Robert Ford and Greenville Rep. Eric Bedingfield offered a strong statement of support for school choice in The Post and Courier of March 2. They jointly bemoaned "failing schools" and the "same old solutions that have failed the children of our state for decades." They advocate public funding for the parental "option" to send their children to the school of their choice — public or private. They dismissed those who might disagree as "government funded special interest groups" who "profit from the current system." They called themselves the "odd couple" — a black Charleston Democrat and a white Greenville Republican.

We'd like to respond as an equally "odd couple" — a white public education advocate who likes to "think out of the box" to improve all public schools and a black preacher with an equal interest in public education — who have found common ground.

Our common ground leads us to the same opinion of the proposal by Sen. Ford and Rep. Bedingfield — it's a very bad and incredibly naive idea that would irreparably harm public education and that totally ignores the real reason why our public schools have "failed the children of our state for decades." The real cause was evident in March 2 report in The Post and Courier about the closing of five predominately African-American "failing" schools in the Charleston County School District because of budget woes. While these schools were not closed just because they are predominantly African-American, they have historically been denied the staffing, the resources, and the unequivocal demand for excellence that inevitably led to their closure.

South Carolina operated separate, unequal and segregated public schools for decades, and Charleston County was among the last school districts to grudgingly desegregate. During and beyond those years of segregation, totally or predominately African-American schools were habitually underfunded. It's sad that a state senator and representative would ignore that history and propose a plan that would further damage schools that have inequitably suffered for years instead of seeking equitable and responsible funding, staffing, equipment and facilities for all public schools, which would lessen the appeal of "choice."

It's sad and shameful that a state senator and representative advocate cutting already inadequate public school funding to promote strategies once used to maintain segregation. The bitter fight to preserve segregated schools in the last half of the 20th century included two primary legislative strategies. The first outlawed school zoning and allowed parents to "choose" their preferred schools, leaving the door open for "choice" to fall along lines of race. The second, which was found to be unconstitutional, was to give parents tax credits so that they could send their children to what were then new private schools created with the stated intent of providing segregated alternatives. Their strategy is far easier than exercising the courageous, visionary, and at times unpopular leadership to finally ensure that every child gets the education he or she deserves and that our state must have to realize its full potential.

We're willing to admit what Mr. Ford and Mr. Bedingfield cloak in a rhetorical veneer of "feel good" togetherness — race is still the "800 pound gorilla in the living room" that few people want to discuss but that still governs much of what happens in many arenas in our state, including public education. We advocate admitting that we've failed some of our children by design and taking the financial and legislative steps to see that every public school is a good school before considering other options, so that all of our children, regardless of color or class, can stay close to home and receive more than the "minimally adequate education" presently provided for by our state's constitution.

Neither of us are members of "government funded special interest groups" who "profit from the current system." We would note one thing that Sen. Ford and Rep. Bedingfield have in common. Rep. Bedingfield is hailed as a school choice advocate on the Website of South Carolinians for Responsible Government, and Sen. Ford received thousands of dollars in contributions to his last campaign from associates of a New York resident who strongly supports South Carolinians for Responsible Government — Howard Rich. Mr. Rich is an avowed supporter of "privatizing" public schools, and he has made no secret of his desire to make South Carolina the proving ground for his ideas. Their argument for choice comes directly from Mr. Rich's playbook.

If we are to have better schools for all children and a better quality of life in our state, we should honestly address and correct the problems that face our state — including racial division — without outside direction and with an eye toward bringing all citizens together.

Jon Butzon is executive director of the Charleston Education Network. The Rev. Joseph A. Darby is senior pastor of Morris Brown African Methodist Episcopal Church.