DATELINE MAY 5, 2004
For other education-related legislative news from The SCEA, visit http://www.thescea.org/.
HOUSE PRESSURED TO ADDRESS VOUCHER BILL
Governor Mark Sanford pressed members of the House Ways and Means Committee this morning to recall H 4908, his voucher proposal, from that committee and have it considered by the full House as soon as possible. Sanford's full-court press on the House failed today as the chamber adjourned without hearing such a motion, but it is likely that it will continue through Thursday's session and until he succeeds in having the bill heard by the full House.
Debate was adjourned on the bill in Ways and Means two weeks ago, preventing the bill from becoming law during this year. But Sanford told committee members at a breakfast today that he wants the bill to pass the House this session so he can use it as a campaign tool in state Senate races this summer and fall. If the House votes to recall the bill from committee, it can take up the legislation after a 24-hour delay on the House calendar. Sanford's lieutenants worked the House throughout today's session, identifying members who will support his gambit.
The legislative maneuver is supported by a quiet lobbying campaign by voucher supporters and parents in the community of private, parochial and home schools, who have made hundreds of telephone calls to House members in the past few days. Last month, direct mailers were sent to voters in key House members' districts by South Carolinians for Responsible Government, an organization supporting Sanford's voucher proposal.
The SCEA President Jan McCarthy urges association members to contact their representatives this evening, encouraging them to vote against the effort to extract H 4908 from committee. Contact numbers may be found at the association's website, http://www.thescea.org/. The House will reconvene Thursday at 10 a.m.
SENATE DEBATE CONTINUES
Senators continued debating their appropriations bill through the morning but no new amendments to fully fund the Education Finance Act's base student cost with recurring funds have been offered.
The SCEA is working with Senators to develop amendments to this effect, and to restore budget cuts and eliminations proposed by Governor Mark Sanford. But the Senate gave its bill approval on second reading before adjourning on Tuesday, which means that the window of opportunity to affect the budget process is perilously narrow.
DATELINE MAY 12, 2004
For other education-related legislative news from The SCEA, visit http://www.thescea.org/.
DEBATE ON SANFORD VOUCHERS PAUSED AGAIN
Governor Mark Sanford won half a victory this afternoon, as the House Ways and Means Committee again considered H 4908, the voucher bill supported by Sanford and sponsored by Rep. Lewis Vaughn of Greenville County. But after almost ninety minutes of discussion, debate on the bill was adjourned again, leaving it stuck in committee but still alive.
Sanford and others pushing to enact the voucher legislation are behind a sophisticated lobbying effort that includes direct mail and telephone banks to voters in districts represented by House Ways and Means Committee members. Despite several questions asked in today's debate, it is still unclear who is funding the pro-voucher campaign. Rep Gilda Cobb-Hunter of Orangeburg noted that constituents in her district are receiving organized telephone calls that originate from a 615 area code, which includes Nashville, Tennessee and its suburbs.
The pro-voucher campaign also includes organized emailing. Vaughn told his colleagues that he'd received a flood of emails supporting vouchers following last month's public hearing on H 4809. Rep. Shirley Hinson of Berkeley County reported receiving 300 emails in support of vouchers, many more than she'd had time to read.
One representative told The SCEA before this afternoon's meeting that a Sanford spokesman promised to garner 10 donations of $1,000 to the representative's re-election campaign if the representative voted to approve H 4908 in today's meeting, but that the governor would campaign on behalf of the representative's primary opponent if he withheld his support. To his credit, the representative -- a six-term veteran lawmaker of the governor's own party -- restated his unwavering opposition to H 4908.
The afternoon's debate drew the attention of House Speaker David Wilkins, who briefly visited the committee to watch from the sidelines.
Two minor amendments were offered by Vaughn and adopted, and one by Rep. Lanny Littlejohn of Spartanburg County. Littlejohn's amendment ensures that a public school whose student enrollment drops by 10 percent as a result of the voucher legislation will be exempt from most state regulation, as are private, parochial and home schools.
Littlejohn's ultimate position on H 4908 was difficult to determine from his comments. "We're debating a huge change in public education. It's the state's supreme responsibility to maintain public education," Littlejohn said. "We have 40,000 teachers who go into a classroom every day and bust their tails, totally dedicated to doing the job. We ask them to teach every child that walks in the door, and they do."
"The SCEA, the NEA and the educrats harp on money, but money's not the problem," he charged. "Everything we ask teachers to do is the problem."
Rep. Tracy Edge of Horry County also attacked The SCEA by name, saying that the association has "demonized" the Sanford voucher proposal. Edge supports H 4908, he said, on behalf of children whose parents would send them to private, parochial and home schools if they could afford it.
Edge noted that he attended a private school for some years when his parents determined that public schools were not addressing his hearing impairment. "I was better able to get the training and proper teaching methods I needed," Edge said. "At that time, the public school system wasn't capable of meeting my needs."
Edge's comment drew fire from Cobb-Hunter, who regretted Edge's indictment of public schools, since the state legislature is responsible for making resources available for schools to provide appropriate services to children. In response, Edge added that his mother, wife and mother-in-law are public school teachers, and a sister is a public school principal.
Rep. Ken Kennedy of Greeleyville took personal offense at the proposal of public-funded vouchers for private, parochial and home schools. He recalled that prior to the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954, he could not attend certain schools in Williamsburg County because he is African-American.
"I walked to school, and the classroom had a little stove in it. I couldn't ride the bus," Kennedy said. "Then in 1954, I remember the little square school bus coming to take me to school, and I remember all the school construction that started then. Those schools that were built in 1954 are still there now, and those 50-year-old schools all need repairs," he said.
"I think it's sickening," Kennedy declared. "It hurts me to my heart to see this legislature gutting the public school system. This is an attack on the public schools of South Carolina. I don't think that the average citizen, black or white, is listening, is paying attention to what this governor is recommending that we do."
"When the average citizen wakes up and realizes what's happening, there's going to be war," Kennedy predicted.
Rep. Rick Quinn of Lexington County proposed an amendment that limits tax credits to income taxes alone, rather than income and property taxes. The effect would be that the state alone -- without aid from local districts -- will bear the cost of the vouchers. Hearing Quinn's rationale for the amendment, Rep. Bill Cotty of Richland County challenged the notion that the subsidy represented a tax credit alone. "If it's a voucher, it's a voucher, and that's what it is," Cotty argued. Quinn's amendment was approved.
Later in the debate, Vaughn returned to Cotty's comments with criticism. "Mr. Cotty, 'voucher' is not a dirty word to me," he said.
Vaughn unleashed criticisms of education organizations and public schools in general, as well, complaining of "the network that educators have and that the PTAs have access to."
"It's wrong for them to use taxpayer-paid computers to get their message out," Vaughn said. "I bet everyone in here, if they could afford to, would send their kids to private schools."
Addressing the concern that the reduced enrollments of public schools don't alleviate the facility costs of electricity, heating and air conditioning and building repairs, Vaughn offered a chilling solution: "If you take enough of 'em out, you can close one."
Without warning, Rep. Dan Cooper of Anderson County moved to adjourn debate on the measure, and the committee voted by voice to agree. Adjourning debate on the bill means that the bill remains alive on the committee calendar.
Given the investment by the governor's office and organizations coordinating the legislative action campaign in favor of vouchers, it is likely that Sanford will pressure House leaders to bring the bill out of committee by force, on Thursday or next week. The SCEA President Jan McCarthy urges members to contact their representatives through the weekend and voice their opinions on H 4908.
DATELINE MAY 14, 2004
DETAILS ON SATURDAY'S MARCH OUTLINED
Jean Norman, executive director of the South Carolina School Improvement Council, met Thursday with organizers of the March for Education Equity in Columbia and offered the following details for March participants.
DOWNTOWN WILL BE BUSY ...
Please be aware that The State newspaper this morning warns that there will be six events Saturday morning in downtown Columbia. Take that into consideration when planning your arrival, parking, etc.
ARRIVE BY 10 A.M. ...
Participants planning to march should arrive at Zion Baptist Church, at the corner of Washington and Gadsden streets, no later than 10 a.m. to get into march formation. The party will begin its march promptly at 10:30 a.m.
BUSES AND VANS ...
Buses and vans bringing participants should unload passengers on Lady Street between Lincoln and Gadsden Streets. (If entering downtown Columbia on Gervais Street, turn left onto Park Street and right onto Lady Street, following Lady for two blocks.) From here, passengers will walk one block to Zion Baptist Church or three blocks to the State House. Empty buses will be allowed to park along Sumter Street behind the State House; empty vans may park on Senate Street between Sumter and Marion Street, across from the State House and beside Trinity Cathedral.
WHAT TO DO WITH SIGNED PLEDGES ...
There will be a pledge tent on the grounds of the State House with boxes plainly labeled for depositing signed pledges.
PORTABLE TOILETS ...
Portable toilets will be available at the parking lot beside Zion Baptist Church and on the Sumter Street side of the State House.
BOTTLED WATER ...
Bottled water will be sold but not available for free. Temperatures will rise by noon.
ROUTE AND PARADE SEQUENCE ...
The marching party will organize at Zion Baptist Church, step off at Washington Street at 10:30 a.m., turn onto Main Street and forward to the State House. The march will be led by a Clarendon District 1 school bus carrying 40 students and chaperones, followed by descendants of the plaintiffs in Briggs v Elliot, one of the five cases merged into Brown v Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, in 1954. Following these will be parade marshal Pat Conroy; the march's honorary chairs; representatives of the co-sponsoring organizations, including The South Carolina Education Association; and citizens. Participants are urged to bring signs naming their organizations, and to wear comfortable walking shoes and identifying shirts, badges, stickers, and hats representing their organizations and affiliations. Only 400 chairs will be placed in front of the State House steps platform.
SPEAKERS ...
Scheduled speakers will include march organizer Rhett Jackson, South Carolina NAACP President Lonnie Randolph, author and parade marshal Pat Conroy, former South Carolina Governor and U.S. Secretary of Education Dick Riley, The SCEA President Jan McCarthy, the South Carolina School Boards Association President Leni Paterson, and Steve Morrison, lead attorney for the plaintiffs in the school funding equity trial now pending in Manning.
