PRIORITY ISSUES FOR 2009
- Support improvements to the way the State funds public education.
- Support full-day, 4-year-old kindergarten for all low-income children in the state.
- Support public school choice and oppose school vouchers and tuition tax credits.
- Support full implementation of the school bus replacement law.
OTHER IMPORTANT ISSUES
- Support an increase in the state cigarette tax to increase the number of children with health insurance.
- Support significant changes to the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law.
- Oppose local spending Caps.
PRIORITY ISSUES FOR 2009
1. Support improvements to the way the State funds public education.
The State has multiple and complex methods to fund public education in South Carolina-methods that do not provide equitable and reliable funding for school districts. Some funding methods are decades old and do not adequately fund today's classroom needs. Increasing requirements in academic areas, technology, quality teaching, testing, accountability, and student safety require funding streams that keep pace with these changes.
The Property Tax Relief Law of 2006 (Act 388) radically changed the way school districts are funded. Local property taxes on homes for school operations were eliminated and in exchange school districts receive state funding from a 1-cent increase in the state sales tax.
This law has multiple, harmful impacts on school funding:- One more layer to the hodgepodge of methods the state uses to fund public education.
- A decrease in the reliability of state K-12 funding.
- An increase in funding inequities among school districts including the expected inability of districts to keep pace with high-growth enrollment
- A reduction in local control-the ability of local, elected school boards to raise revenue to meet local needs
- An increase in the tax burden on business property.
The major method of state funding for public education is the Education Finance Act of 1977. This methods provides a per pupil amount of funding (the "base student cost") that was deemed adequate to fund a child's education in 1977. This amount increases with inflation every year; however, it does not increase with the new and expanding requirements necessary for a quality education. What is required in the schools of today is radically different than the expectation 30 years ago.
CURRENT STATUS: The State Department of Education's task forces on school funding released their recommendations in December 2007. A State Senate committee has been reviewing these issues for several years and a House committee has started work on their own recommendations.
OUR POSITION: The Alliance for Quality Education (AFQE) seeks comprehensive reform of state funding for public education to provide school districts with a more adequate, equitable and reliable stream of state revenue and a broader set of funding tools for local, elected school boards.
Contact your representatives in the state legislature to voice your opinion.
2. Support full-day, 4-year-old kindergarten for all low-income children in the state
Brain research shows a child's intellectual capacity is largely set before he ever reaches kindergarten. Poor children are far less likely than middle-class children to receive the sort of brain stimulation they need at home.
Children who start kindergarten ready to learn are less likely to have to repeat a grade. Children who don't have to repeat grades are more likely to graduate from high school, which means they're much less likely to become dependent on welfare or involved in crime and more likely to become productive, taxpaying citizens.
A substantial body of research has found that cost savings to society far exceed the cost of pre-school education with benefit-to-cost ratio estimates of 8:1.
CURRENT STATUS: To respond to a court order, in 2006 the State Legislature funded a two-year, full-day 4K "pilot program" in eight poor school districts. Other school districts have been receiving state funding to offer half-day, 4-year-old kindergarten. However, to offer full-day programs, districts must allocate local funds, apply for grants or use federal Title I money.
In 2008, the State Senate passed a bill (S.815) to expand full-day, 4K to all low-income children in the state. With a revenue shortfall, the bill did not pass the House. However FY09 funding was appropriated to continue the program in the "pilot" districts.
OUR POSITION: The State should expand its current efforts and fund full-day, 4-year-old kindergarten for all children in low-income families. This funding would have a tremendous return on investment for our state.
Contact your representatives in the state legislature to voice your opinion.
3. Support public school choice and oppose school vouchers and tuition tax credits
School choice within the public school system provides parents with alternatives to their assigned school. This includes charter schools and within Greenville County Schools both magnet schools and open enrollment-assignment to another school that is below capacity.
School vouchers and tuition tax credits use state tax dollars to pay for student enrollment in a private school.
The Alliance for Quality Education (AFQE) supports public school choice because these options are both accountable to taxpayers and accessible to all students. Taxpayers know how their tax dollars are being spent at any school as well as each school's academic record. Poorly performing schools are publicly identified and are required to take specific steps to improve. All students have access to public school choices and transportation is often provided to choice schools.
The Alliance for Quality Education (AFQE) opposes school vouchers and tuition tax credits. Here are some primary reasons:
- Private schools funded through school vouchers and tuition tax credits are not academically and financially accountable to taxpayers.
- Independent charter schools, which are accountable to taxpayers, can be established in any school district in the state.
- Extensive, independent research shows no student academic gains from school vouchers and tuition tax credits and has found that public schools do as good or better job of educating students than private schools.
- Vouchers and tuition tax credits primarily benefit families with students already in private schools.
- Voucher programs do not provide publicly available information on schools nor provide parents the ability to do an "apples-to-apples" comparison of schools.
- Taxpayers will be forced to support failing private schools they don't know are failing. (The experience in Milwaukee demonstrates that some parents pick poor schools for their children and keep them there.)
For more information on these reasons, see:
CURRENT STATUS: In 2008 a Public School Choice bill was introduced in the House but no action was taken. Legislation to provide tuition tax credits for special needs students did not make it out of a House committee.
OUR POSITION: The Alliance for Quality Education (AFQE) supports more choices for parents within the public school system and opposes school vouchers and tuition tax credits for any purpose. The 2008 public school choice bill would have assisted Greenville County Schools by providing state funds for transporting students to and from district choice programs. Currently our school system has to use its own funds for transporting magnet students.
Contact your representatives in the state legislature to voice your opinion.
4. Support full implementation of the school bus replacement law.
In 2007 the State Legislature passed a law providing a 15-year replacement cycle for school busses. (In South Carolina, the state is responsible for providing school busses for each school district.) In 2008 the legislature did not comply with the law. It did not provide the required funding.
Complying with the law is critical for the welfare of our children. 36% of Greenville County students ride the bus. Of the busses they ride:
- more than 40% are 15 years or older including 20% that are 20 or more years old
- some don't have heat
- many lack modern safety features
- breakdowns average more than 2 per day
- Older parts are no longer available & must be scavenged from backup busses
Changing busses along the side of a road is dangerous for children. Students that are late for school fall behind in their school work.
For more information see the following:
- Findings from an investigative series in the Charleston Post and Courier
- Bus fleet data - Greenville County Schools and the State
CURRENT STATUS: $10 million was allocated for new school busses in the FY09 state budget-an amount well below what is required in the law. Furthermore instead of purchasing a few new busses, these funds will all go to paying the higher cost of fuel. No new busses will be provided.
OUR POSITION: The Alliance for Quality Education (AFQE) supports annual, full compliance with the 15-year bus replacement cycle law. For too long school bus replacement has been an afterthought or outright neglected by the legislature. The safety of our children should always be a priority for state funding.