States

Choice Proponents Gearing Up for 2006 Legislatures

October 11, 2005 3 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

School choice advocates from conservative-leaning state policy groups gathered here recently to compare notes and map out strategies for expanding families’ school options during the 2006 state legislative sessions.

Attendees at the State Policy Network’s annual conference, held Sept. 28-29, predicted that school choice bills will be introduced and debated in the coming year in Arizona, Missouri, South Carolina, and other states. The SPN, based in Richmond, Calif., links conservative state policy organizations across the country.

BRIC ARCHIVE

Missouri is among the states where new legislation is most likely to prevail in 2006, some here predicted.

“Of all the places [looking at school choice], I would say Missouri has the best chance of doing something this coming session,” said Brian McGrath, the director of programs and state relations for the Indianapolis-based Milton & Rose D. Friedman Foundation, which promotes school choice.

Earlier this year, a proposal in the Missouri House called for a $40 million plan to create scholarships worth $3,800 to $4,000 each for students in St. Louis and Kansas City who met one of several requirements, including thresholds for low income. The plan didn’t make it to the floor, but Mr. McGrath said 2006 could be different.

Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt, a Republican who has voiced support for school choice, recently convened a meeting of business leaders in St. Louis to build support for the plan, Mr. McGrath said.

The Friedman Foundation plans to take a group of Missouri business leaders to Milwaukee soon to examine that city’s voucher program, enacted by the Wisconsin legislature, which allows about 15,000 students from low-income families to attend private schools using state-funded vouchers worth about $6,000 each.

Building Support

Meanwhile, the battle over school choice in South Carolina also appears to be far from over.

Gov. Mark Sanford, a Republican, plans to make his proposed Put Parents in Charge Act one of his key legislative goals again this coming year, after the menu of voucher-style programs failed to pass the GOP-controlled legislature in 2005.

The legislation would have allowed up to $4,000 in reduced state income taxes for each child that a family enrolled in private schools or transferred to other public schools. It also would have allowed unlimited corporate-tax-credit scholarships, in which corporations get tax breaks for donations to nonprofit organizations that provide scholarships for students to attend private schools.

Gov. Sanford spoke at the conference here, but the press was not allowed to attend.

“The governor is still just as committed to school choice as he ever was,” said Randy Page, the executive director of South Carolinians for Responsible Government, an advocacy group based in Columbia, S.C. “The question is not whether we’re going to have school choice in South Carolina, but when.”

In Arizona, Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano may call a special legislative session on several policy matter before the end of this year, during which the Republican-controlled legislature is expected to pass a bill adopting corporate-tax-credit scholarships in the state, school choice supporters here said. Arizona already has tax-credit scholarships that are funded by contributions from individuals.

Gov. Napolitano earlier this year vetoed a plan to provide $3,500 corporate-tax-credit scholarships, infuriating some Republican legislative leaders who believed the governor had agreed to sign the legislation, said Darcy A. Olsen, the president of the Phoenix-based Goldwater Institute, a think tank that backs the plan.

In Utah, school choice proponents hope to build on last year’s legislative victory on special education scholarships.

Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., a Republican, signed a law providing $1.4 million in scholarships for students with disabilities whose parents wish to transfer them to private schools or other public schools. So far, the demand for the program has been weaker than anticipated. (“Utah Lacking Takers for New Special-Needs Voucher,” Oct. 5, 2005)

School choice activists in Utah hope to add a tax-credit-scholarship program next year, said M. Royce Van Tassell, the executive director of Education Excellence Utah, a Salt Lake City-based group that supported the new voucher program and is now pushing for the tax-credit scholarships.

A version of this article appeared in the October 12, 2005 edition of Education Week as Choice Proponents Gearing Up for 2006 Legislatures

Events

Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and other jobs in K-12 education at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

States School Chaplain Bills Multiply, Stirring Debate on Faith-Based Counseling
Proponents say school chaplains could help address a mental health crisis. Opponents raise concerns about religious coercion.
6 min read
Image of a bible sitting on top of a school backpack.
Canva
States What's on the K-12 Agenda for States This Year? 4 Takeaways
Reading instruction, private school choice, and teacher pay are among the issues leading governors' K-12 education agendas.
6 min read
Gov. Brad Little provides his vision for the 2024 Idaho Legislative session during his State of the State address on Jan. 8, 2024, at the Statehouse in Boise.
Idaho Gov. Brad Little outlines his priorities during his State of the State address before lawmakers on Jan. 8, 2024, at the capitol in Boise.
Darin Oswald/Idaho Statesman via AP
States Q&A How Districts Can Navigate Tricky Questions Raised by Parents' Rights Laws
Where does a parent's authority stop and a school's authority begin? A constitutional law scholar weighs in.
6 min read
Illustration of dice with arrows and court/law building icons: conceptual idea of laws and authority.
Andrii Yalanskyi/iStock/Getty
States What 2024 Will Bring for K-12 Policy: 5 Issues to Watch
School choice, teacher pay, and AI will likely dominate education policy debates.
7 min read
The U.S. Capitol is seen in Washington, Monday, Feb. 6, 2023. President Joe Biden on Tuesday night will stand before a joint session of Congress for the first time since voters in the midterm elections handed control of the House to Republicans.
The rising role of artificial intelligence in education and other sectors will likely be a hot topic in 2024 at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, as well as in state legislatures across the country.
Mariam Zuhaib/AP