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November 2006
By Issac J. Bailey, The Myrtle Beach Sun-News
I will step into the ballot box Tuesday with one thing atop of my mind: radical school reform. School choice, in the form of vouchers or tax credits, is the most likely vehicle to force South Carolina down the road to radical change, and that's why I support such efforts.
Many people disagree with me for a variety of reasons. If any of them between now and Tuesday morning can provide a compelling argument why I shouldn't favor school choice, I'll change my voting mindset and not avoid anti-choice candidates.
I have yet to hear a convincing argument against choice. I can't imagine anyone believes that students magically are born into the right school district to meet their educational needs, yet that's precisely what one has to believe to think choice is a bad idea.
Opponents say choice supporters want to dismantle public schools. Not this one. I simply want more of the state's children educated better.
Opponents say choice supporters want to re-institute segregated schools. Not this one. Besides, studies have proved that unforced segregation has already taken hold of many schools, particularly for poor and minority students.
Opponents say choice supporters want to give another tax break to the rich. Not this one. I only care that we find another way to make sure more kids graduate.
Opponents like to remind us that the state has seen educational improvement, that our fourth graders are doing well on the Palmetto Achievement Challenge Test, that we have the highest increase in SAT scores, that we are supposedly on the right track, that we are no longer the worst in the nation.
That's good but not nearly good enough, especially when one glaring statistic continues to haunt us.
Only about half of our students graduate high school with a regular diploma. The S.C. Educational Benchmarking Overview of Performance study said our graduation rate - the worst in the nation - is getting worse. And that's on the heels of numerous educational reforms we've implemented over the past 30 years.
If that isn't evidence of a major failure of our current educational system, I don't know what is.
Yes, parents have to be more involved. Yes, students have to be more disciplined, study harder, be held more accountable and take their education seriously. Yes, trying to improve education is hard and complicated.
But to deny that we need radical reform is to deny reality.
The above appeared in the November 5, 2025 Myrtle Beach Sun-News
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