POLICY

 
The following opinion-editorial was written by SCRG President Randy Page.
 
Bureaucrats are pushing a plan to raise taxes and increase spending on public schools.
 
The districts spent $9.4 billion last year. Apparently $13,600 per student isn’t enough. The plan will raise taxes across the state.
 

Some education bureaucrats are pushing a new plan to  - suprise, surprise - increase spending by schools that already burn through $9.4 billion every year. Naturally, that plan will be accomplished by raising taxes across the state. Hardest hit will be families and small business owners.

According to a recent Gallup poll, American confidence in public schools is at the lowest point in forty years. 
 
Of those polled, only 29% said they had a "great deal," or "quite a lot of confidence" in the nation's public schools. That number represents a drop of five percentage points since 2011. Polling numbers from 1973 (when the survey was first conducted) showed that 58% of Americans had significant confidence in public schools.
 

The recent release of Education Week's annual "Diploma's Count" report shows that public schools in South Carolina are among the worst in the nation for on-time graduation of students. 
 

There's never a shortage of politicians who say they make the decisions "for the kids," but when it comes to putting the interests of students over their own ambitions, the number shrinks dramatically. That certainly seems to be the case when it comes to passing - or even openly debating - school choice legislation in South Carolina.
 

The picture above says it all.  All these officials were elected by the people of South Carolina to make decisions and policies in the best interest of the people. All these officials support school choice legislation. 
 
Please forward the picture above to your family and friends. Contact your State Senator and let them know you expect them to support this popular piece of education reform policy. 

Have a great Memorial Day with friends and family. 
 
- The Voice

Who could stand in the way of introducing new technology to classrooms?
 

 
The following excerpts are from a letter to the editor by Lexington resident Patricia Wheat  that appeared in the Lexington County Chronicle on May 17.
 

Lawmakers on a special senate committee considered, and voted out, a modest school choice bill in early May. The legislation, which was passed by the full House earlier this year, will now be taken up by the full Senate Finance Committee.

The five SC Senators seated on the special committee heard testimony from parents and educators who support increased parental choice in K-12 education. They also heard about the actual experiences of similar -and widely popular- choice programs operating in other states.