SENATORS UNVEIL FISCAL IMPACT FOR 2009 EDUCATION OPPORTUNITY ACT*
*April 2, 2009* – State Senators David Thomas and Kevin Bryant joined former S.C. Revenue Director Burnie Maybank today in unveiled a dynamic fiscal impact analysis for the 2009 Education Opportunity Act, South Carolina’s new parental choice legislation.
“This bill is about helping all students – and all taxpayers,” Sen.
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.”
“We have to stop pretending that these goals are mutually exclusive, and we have to start recognizing that you can be for parental choice and for public education at the same time,” Sen. Thomas added. “Who can be against simultaneously empowering parents and freeing up more money per child within the public system?”
“Our school system is failing far too many children. 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,” said Sen. Bryant. “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.”
According to Maybank’s analysis – which unlike previous BEA reports factors a reasonable average private school tuition rate and a conservative demand estimate – the Education Opportunity Act would save S.C. taxpayers $5.4 million its first year.
“I have used the BEA numbers,” Maybank said. “What I have done, however, is used a dynamic model to reach more accurate conclusions.”
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