A bold plan to give every student unlimited educational choices and opportunities
Traditional public schools have become mere shadows of their former greatness. They are now the typical product of all government monopolies; mission creep, poor budgeting, unwieldy management and declining morale. Even the best most committed educators and administrators quickly burn out and leave the field or merely do what they must to try to make a living and get to retirement. The monopoly also leaves most students and their families with no choice, they have to go to the school in their neighborhood and do the best they can with what the school has to offer. We have all heard the terrible stories from our public schools, from the violence and shootings that periodically grab the headlines to the rampant immorality, promiscuity and drug and alcohol use among students to the regular improprieties committed by teachers and administrators. We also constantly hear about the “inadequate” education funding to explain the poor performance of our schools and to justify constant demands for more money to improve our schools. Of course as a corollary to those demands is the incessant increase in school and property taxes. Yet in spite of the ever-increasing amount spent on education over the last 50 years very little progress has been made in virtually every measure of academic achievement and in many cases things have even gotten worse.
The solution is to give the students, teachers, school administrators, and parents unlimited choices in the school they will attend or at which they will teach or administer. This plan creates the solution. The concept of school choice is not new but it has always been limited primarily to those families who can afford to attend private schools and often comes at the expense of public schools. The essence of this solution is to take the funding that the state currently spends on public education and provide per capita funding directly to each student to pay the tuition for the school of their choice. The student would then use the money to attend any school they choose. Under this plan every student would be able to go to any school they like anywhere in the state without having to worry about the costs of tuition. This plan will eventually replace the current public school system after a transition period to allow the private sector to ramp up their resources to accept the influx of new students. This plan will provide direct tuition payments for kindergartners the third year after passage. In the fourth year payments would be made for kindergartners and first graders. In the fifth year payments would be made for kindergartners, first graders and second graders. Each subsequent year another grade would be added until all twelve grades were funded. The State Department of Education would establish the annual stipend paid for each student which will vary year to year and may be different for different grades but would be the same for each student across the state in the same grade. South Carolina currently spends roughly $11,400.00 per student per year or over $7 billion per year. Under this plan the per student stipend could easily be $9,000.00 per year saving the state millions of dollars every year. The State Department of Education would also be responsible to maintain educational standards for schools, teachers and students and would administer standardized tests and certify schools.
Traditional public schools have become mere shadows of their former greatness. They are now the typical product of all government monopolies; mission creep, poor budgeting, unwieldy management and declining morale. Even the best most committed educators and administrators quickly burn out and leave the field or merely do what they must to try to make a living and get to retirement. The monopoly also leaves most students and their families with no choice, they have to go to the school in their neighborhood and do the best they can with what the school has to offer. We have all heard the terrible stories from our public schools, from the violence and shootings that periodically grab the headlines to the rampant immorality, promiscuity and drug and alcohol use among students to the regular improprieties committed by teachers and administrators. We also constantly hear about the “inadequate” education funding to explain the poor performance of our schools and to justify constant demands for more money to improve our schools. Of course as a corollary to those demands is the incessant increase in school and property taxes. Yet in spite of the ever-increasing amount spent on education over the last 50 years very little progress has been made in virtually every measure of academic achievement and in many cases things have even gotten worse.
