Senators: School Choice a cash-windfall for public schools

Sponsors of the Educational Opportunity Act have gathered at the Statehouse in Columbia to let parents know: school choice will save money.

From the press release:

“This bill is about helping all students – and all taxpayers,” Sen. [David] Thomas said. “It’s also about giving public schools more resources per child. As a longtime, passionate supporter of public education in South Carolina, I believe that we have an obligation to do both.”

Senator Kevin Bryant also noted:

“We have to try something new, and the good news is that we can do that in such a way that saves the state money and lets our public schools have smaller class sizes and better student-to-teacher ratios. When you put the goal of the individual child – not the individual bureaucracy – first, this proposal is a no-brainer. It’s only when your concern is more for the administrative functions that you start to see opposition.”

Last year public schools began the year with over $11,480 in combined per student appropriations. The state share of that money averaged $4,800 for each of the nearly 700,000 public school students. Even after the mid-year budget cuts, the state will still spend over $4,300 per student this year.

Of the state spending, half of that money is truly “student-based” and directly follows the individual child within the public school system. That’s primarily the money coming from the Education Accountability Act (EAA). The other half of the money is non-EAA General Fund spending and non-general fund state appropriations. That money goes to grants, programs and categories, which are not tied to the exact number of children in a given school or district.

In other words, when engaged parents make the choice to home-school their child or send them to a parochial or private school, the state saves $2,400 in student specific money while giving local districts $2,400 more for a child they do not have to educate. That means more money per-child. Those figures are dramatically higher if the child is zoned to attend a failing school or challenged with special needs.