December 11, 2007
State Education Superintendent Jim Rex wants to provide students and their parents more school choice within the public school system. A bill proposed by Rex and state Rep. Ted Pitts, R-Lexington, would encourage school districts to allow students to attend schools from outside the district. It's a worthwhile initiative -- among several proposed by Rex -- but it's uncertain whether the plan will be embraced by school districts.
The new bill would allow but not require school systems to accept students from outside district lines. It would require school districts to form public school choice committees and then to submit proposals with at least one cross-district choice plan to their school boards. Implementing the plan, however, would be up to the school board.
The Legislature approved a public school choice plan earlier this year but it was vetoed by Gov. Mark Sanford. Rex believes this plan has a strong chance of garnering legislative support. Pitts himself opposed the public school choice bill earlier this year because it required districts to take in some students from other districts, which he viewed as an unfunded mandate. Significantly, this plan also offers state transportation funding so students can travel to the programs of their choice.
Rex also wants to boost the number of innovative schools and classrooms in the state, such as single-gender classes, Montessori schools, language immersion classes, magnet and public charter schools. For instance, he expects at least 150 schools to offer families single-gender programs by the start of the 2008 school year.
To support his plans, Rex last summer created the office of public school choice within his agency and eventually will have at least four people schools can use as resources to develop choice programs. He plans to hire a Montessori expert soon.
Rex also recently proposed two other promising initiatives:
· Creating teams of teachers responsible for groups of students for more than one year so they can connect better. The team approach might include a diverse group that would match new teachers with more experienced teachers or with a Spanish-speaking teacher to better support each other's efforts.
· Creating teams of first-year teachers who live, train and teach together in the state's more challenging schools. The plan would provide them with free housing, good pay and financial incentive for exceeding educational goals for their students.
Critics of Rex's school-choice plan blasted it for failing to support taxpayer money for private schools. Certainly, South Carolina needs a modest plan that would help young people from low-income families attend private school.
But private school choice supporters in South Carolina often go too far, pushing broad initiatives that rob money from public schools and don't focus on those who most need school choice -- poorer students. Any private school choice plan also must make sure that private schools are held financially and academically accountable for taxpayer money.
Rex's school choice initiatives are promising. They offer the hope of providing more educational opportunity to children stuck in struggling schools.
