The Senate Education Committee on Wednesday sent Senator Robert Ford’s private school choice bill back to subcommittee, in essence sending it back to the drawing board.
Richland’s Darrell Jackson said that even the private school choice bill is gone, the issue that prompted that bill is not. that is, poorer districts having less to offer to students.
Greenville’s Mike Fair responded, “The fact is, though, Senator from Richland, if it’s a matter of going to better schools, zip codes will always control that choice.”
Fair says that the bill is a good start. Jackson agreed,”I have actually become a bigger fan of choice than I was several years ago, but my issue still remains. Because there is one question no one has ever been able to answer for me. And that is, if you have 200 children trying to get into a school with 50 slots, who makes the choice?”
Jackson and Education Chairman John Courson both say those issues will be taken up when the bill is again taken up, next year.
” We got some of the finest public schools and school districts in the country. But we also have some very poor-performing school districts and what we are trying to do is to raise the boat for all,” says Courson.