NEWS BRIEFS: New battle over vouchers, public education dollars

Staff reports  |  Look for another education battle in 2022 as key Republican leaders push a bill that would siphon public education dollars to private schools under the guise of “education freedom.”

According to Statehouse Report, S.C. Rep. Shannon Erickson, R-Beaufort, recently sent an email through the Palmetto Promise Institute to push H. 3976, a bill she introduced in February to create “education scholarship accounts” for tens of thousands of early reading program or special needs students.  Anyone in the proposed program would get about $5,000 a year in an online savings account to use for a student’s education.

A 2020 version of the bill, which proposed a similar mechanism limited to special needs students, was projected to cost up to $456 million a year for about 67,000 eligible students.  The new version could dramatically increase the number of participants at a much-increased fiscal impact, Statehouse insiders said.

Erickson didn’t respond to several inquiries.  But in the email, she wrote the measure, which included House Speaker Jay Lucas and 62 other mostly GOP members as co-sponsors, “would empower low- and middle-income families with control and choice over their child’s education in a way never before seen in South Carolina.  It would position the Palmetto State as a leader in education freedom and set the stage for a student-centered education revolution.”

But advocates at the S.C. Education Association say such rhetoric offers nice-sounding buzzwords that mask a dangerous potential shift to education vouchers that would steer millions of public school dollars away from school districts for private schools.

In other recent news:

Vertical Roots featured on PBS.  Charleston-based container hydroponic farm Vertical Roots is featured on the ninth season of the docuseries, START UP, airing on PBS and viewable online here.  During the past two years, producer and host Gary Bredow spent a lot of time reflecting on the direction of the show and the types of stories he wanted to tell, and Vertical Roots was one of them.

Bill would give autonomy to Black history commission. If a bill prefiled by state Rep. J.A. Moore, D-Goose Creek, becomes law, the method to make appointments to the S.C. African American Heritage Commission (SCAAHC) would mirror other state boards and commissions.  Instead of the S.C. Commission of Archives and History having the authority to decide who sits on SCAAHC the presidents of the state’s seven historically Black colleges and universities would recommend appointments with staggered terms with the approval of the governor.

House, Senate to return Dec. 1, 6 on redistricting. Both chambers of the S.C. General Assembly will return in early December to consider redistricting plans.  New maps are required every 10 years by the U.S. Constitution to equalize representation across the state.  The House plan, approved 21-2 with two members abstaining, has drawn fire for protecting incumbents and heavily favoring Republicans. The House returns 2 p.m. Dec. 1 to start deliberations, which are expected to continue at 10 a.m. Thursday and Dec. 6. Meanwhile, S.C. senators will meet in a special session at 1 p.m. Dec. 6 to consider a redistricting plan that has been generally praised.  

Right whale calf spotted off S.C. coast. The first North Atlantic right whale mother-calf pair of the season has been spotted off the state’s coast. 

$88 million Emanuel settlement approved.  U.S. District Court Judge Margaret B. Seymour has approved an $88 million settlement to resolve claims brought against the federal government by victims’ families and survivors of the 2015 Emanuel AME Church shooting. The five survivors and the estates for the nine people killed in the attack alleged errors in the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System allowed the gunman to buy the firearms he used in the mass shooting. More: The Post and Courier, WCIV

Mace proposes measure to decriminalize marijuana. A draft bill unveiled Monday by U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace would eliminate federal prohibitions on cannabis, but stops short of fully legalizing marijuana, instead letting state leaders set rules on their own.

Charleston history commissioners stall on statue request. Charleston’s Commission on History voted Wednesday to wait for more information before it makes a decision on a request from Los Angeles museum curators to borrow the John C. Calhoun statue for an exhibit featuring similar figures that stood as monuments until recent years. Commissioners expressed concerns during the nearly two-hour virtual meeting that the Calhoun monument could be used to put Charleston in a bad light or as part of a politically charged collection.

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