School Choice Isn’t the Problem — It’s the Solution
By SHANE McNAMEE CHOICE GETS THE BLAME FOR THE STATE’S EDUCATIONAL ILLS. YET CHOICE HASN’T BEEN TRIED. The Post and Courier’s recent five-part series, “Left Behind: The unintended consequences of…
Education Task Force Recommends More of the Same
INCREASED FUNDING MIGHT – MIGHT – GET YOU A “MINIMALLY ADEQUATE” EDUCATION. CHOICE CAN DO FAR BETTER. A year ago the South Carolina Supreme Court issued a decision in the…
The Five Worst Arguments against School Choice
WHEN THE ARGUMENT IS ABOUT EVIDENCE, SCHOOL CHOICE WINS. EVERY TIME. Over the last thirty years or more, well-meaning reformers have tried valiantly to improve educational results within public education systems. Prominent…
ANALYSIS: Imposing a Statewide Property Tax
SAME BAD ARGUMENT, DIFFERENT TAX It is a long held view among many elected officials that the only thing preventing exemplary achievements for students in state run schools is insufficient…
Why S.C. Lawmakers Can’t Pass a Budget on Time
EVERY YEAR, LAWMAKERS TRY TO PASS POTENTIALLY CONTROVERSIAL CHANGES THROUGH THE STATE BUDGET. BUT NOT EVERY PROBLEM IS A FUNDING PROBLEM. Legislators returned to Columbia July 6 for a third…
Educational Freedom: How to Achieve It
HOW TO THINK DIFFERENTLY ABOUT EDUCATION IN S.C. It’s no secret that South Carolina has some of the worst public schools and some of the lowest levels of student academic…
Study: More Money, No Improvement
AS EVER, THE EASY ANSWER IS THE WRONG ONE A new study by the Cato Institute reinforces the findings of SCPC and other researchers: more money doesn’t produce better results.…
School Choice in South Carolina: 2014
THIS YEAR, AT LEAST ONE PROPOSAL IS ACTUALLY ABOUT SCHOOL CHOICE Fourteen representatives in the House came together on February 6 to co-sponsor the most significant attempt at school choice…
What Will Our Children Learn Under Common Core? – Part I
EDUCATION OR INDOCTRINATION? We recently laid out answers to some frequently asked questions about Common Core in South Carolina. To recap: Common Core is already being implemented in our state;…
Reforms Pass in North Carolina … But Not Here
THE REASON HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IDEOLOGY It’s a tale of two legislative sessions. In one state, lawmakers passed significant tax reform that lowers tax rates across the board,…
Making a Flawed School Choice Bill (Slightly) Better
IF LAWMAKERS WANT TO IMPROVE A BADLY FLAWED “SCHOOL CHOICE” BILL, HERE’S WHERE TO BEGIN We recently released our initial analysis of S.279, the most prominent “school choice” bill currently…
School Choice This Year?
NEW SESSION, NEW SCHOOL CHOICE BILL – SAME BAD IDEA As was the case last year – and just about any year over the last decade – the current…
What’s the point of school choice?
The debate over school choice has been revived by the passage of H.4894 in the South Carolina House, and we’re glad to see the subject debated again. We just have one small…
School Choice in South Carolina: A Short History
A LOT OF TALK. ALMOST NO RESULT. There are essentially two strategies in diplomatic negotiations. One is to ask for more than you know you’re likely to get, then to…