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August 6, 2004

Editorials That Get It: Taking out-of-state 'ideologues' to task

A pair of South Carolina editorial pages have some pointed words for the out-of-state political groups pushing school vouchers in the Palmetto State. The Rock Hill Herald called them "ideological carpetbaggers" who "have about as much interest in helping South Carolina schools as they do in whether we eat grits or oatmeal for breakfast." The Island Packet newspaper, which serves Beaufort County, said this: "Where have the out-of-state ideologues been all these years as responsible state citizens and leaders have worked so hard to pull up public schools in South Carolina through the landmark Education Finance Act, Education Improvement Act and the Education Accountability Act? They've been absent, and that's because their agenda is not to boost South Carolina public schools, but to tear them apart."

These understandably indignant responses arise from a story that BoardBuzz commented on not long ago: the influence of a Michigan-based pro-voucher group trying to elect pro-voucher candidates to South Carolina statehouse races. And doing so without even mentioning the word "voucher" of course! Their continuing tactics, along with those of a similar Washington, D.C.-based group, led to this recent article and fact sheet from South Carolina's capital city newspaper, The State. For more on the big money bankrolling the voucher movement, check out the first chapter from NSBA's publication "Keep Public Education Public: Why Vouchers are a Bad Idea."

Posted August 6, 2004 12:00 AM