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February 25, 2005

Editorial boards that get it

Kudos to The State newspaper in Columbia, S.C., which is unveiling a series of editorials and analyses on the hotly debated tuition tax credit plan before the state legislature. Editorial page editor Brad Warthen explains the reasons for the series in this column, noting, "no one editorial can adequately explain all the things that are wrong with the idea."

More: "Why are we willing to devote so much time and space to this topic? Because it goes to the heart of whether our state will continue to be committed to the biggest thing it does, which only it can do—provide all children with the opportunity for a good education. There are public schools, and there is what our governor is proposing, and the two concepts are completely incompatible. Our state must indeed make a choice."

The editorial page has even more today, calling the suggestion that tuition tax credits will actually help public school budgets "utter hogwash." Also worth a read: associate editor Nina Brook's recent column. She takes the voucher crowd to task for their all-too-familiar mischaracterizations of the public schools, their supporters, and their teachers.

Writes Brook: "The teachers in South Carolina public schools deserve better. So do the students, and their parents. So does our entire state. Our schools need our full support in order to tackle the most important job any society can do—ensure the full education of its young people to help them become productive and responsible citizens."

And with support for the plan lackluster at best, proponents have begun to scramble, hoping to trim the costs of the plan but curiously removing what little accountability the proposal included in the first place. The South Carolina School Boards Association responded immediately.

Posted February 25, 2005 12:00 AM