GROUPS PUSH FOR PASSAGE OF TUITION TAX-CREDIT BILL (SC)
The State - By Jennifer Talhelm [7/25/2004]

"What do political groups in Michigan and Washington, D.C., have to do with South Carolina schools?

Too much, some think.

In what some say is an unprecedented interest by national political organizations in local politics, two groups have spent tens of thousands of dollars here.

Their goal is to make sure the S.C. Legislature passes a tuition tax-credit bill that would help low-and middle-income parents send their children to private schools.

Both groups plan to stay through the Nov. 2 election and the next legislative session, which runs from January to June.

They have tax-credit supporters excited, but opponents are questioning the groups’ tactics.

Before the June primary, Michigan-based All Children Matter bought radio commercials and sent mailers touting legislative candidates’ support for tax cuts —without mentioning their goal is to pass tuition tax credits.

Near the end of the last legislative session, the Washington-based Legislative Education Action Drive helped a local affiliate — South Carolinians for Responsible Government — run a phone bank that swamped lawmakers’ phones by connecting voters directly to their representatives.

SEIZING THE MOMENT

Gov. Mark Sanford’s support for tuition tax credits — and interest in the issue by legislators — attracted the groups to South Carolina. Sanford ran for governor on the issue in 2002 and made it a key part of his agenda in the legislative session that ended in June.

Sanford spokesman Will Folks said the groups have a right to be active, and it is no surprise they are emboldened by the governor’s support for tax credits.

A bill Sanford supported would have given parents income-tax credits to send their children to private schools, the public school of their choice or to use for home-school expenses. The bill died in committee, but lawmakers promised to introduce it again next session.

“There is an opportunity (in South Carolina) that we see to push some type of school choice,” said J. Sam Daniels, a Charlotte-based political consultant working with All Children Matter.

Added Bill Wilson, LEAD’s director, “Like any group, we target our resources where we think we can do the most good.”

Both say the tax credits will help children get a better education, and the competition will force public schools to improve. They hope a success in South Carolina will encourage efforts in other states.

Bridgette Reeves is one parent who appreciates their help. She scrapes up $14,000 a year for tuition and drives 138 miles round-trip from Lancaster County so her learning-disabled son, Brandon, can attend Glenforest School in Columbia.

It doesn’t bother her that the groups fighting for a tax credit are from out of state, she said, “as long as they’re helping out the children who need it.”

But others are livid.

Opponents say many low-income parents don’t make enough money to benefit from tax credits, and they fear the program would drain public school resources.

“This is part of a national school voucher campaign,” said Rep. Joel Lourie, D-Richland. “I see it as an attack on public education in our state.”

NATIONAL INFLUENCES

Tax credits, as opposed to vouchers, allow parents to claim school costs against their tax liability. Vouchers are government grants to send children to private school.

Lourie and others say private groups always have worked to influence local policy, but national groups have never spent so much time and money on S.C. issues. And it bothers them that the groups don’t always disclose who they are and what they stand for.

Lourie has reason to worry. He faces a tough race against lawyer Ken Wingate for a state Senate seat this November. During the Republican primary, All Children Matter paid for radio ads and mailers on Wingate’s behalf.

Records show the groups have spent about $150,000 on broadcast ads and direct mail advertising in South Carolina.

All Children Matter raked in $919,500 in contributions in the past six months. Daniels said the group plans to spend the money in South Carolina and other states.

And he promises the group will raise more before November.

Susan Brill, a Republican Richland County Council member, attributes her loss in a state House primary in part to All Children Matter’s ads and mailers for her opponent, fellow council member Joan Brady. The group’s influence disturbs Brill.

“These are local issues, this is statewide government, we’re representing a very specific constituency,” Brill said. “They shouldn’t have the influence over a local State House race like this.”

But others say the groups are within their rights, representing an issue that many South Carolinians care about.

“It’s a group that has a goal of trying to make improvements to education, and they are out there exercising their constitutional rights,” said Chip Campsen, a Charleston state Senate candidate supported by All Children Matter. “Plenty of groups do that.”


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