Sign Up For Our Newsletter

South Carolina and the Politics of School Choice (Anna Varghese Marcucio)

It’s been just about one week since the South Carolina primaries, and we in the school choice community were hoping that the results would get us one step closer to finally, FINALLY improving school choice opportunities for the families who need it most.  Unfortunately, the results gave us more of a mixed bag rather than a definitive referendum for choice. 

The good news is that Governor Mark Sanford won the Republican Party’s nomination to run for re-election.  His margin of victory, however, wasn’t overwhelming.  Karen Floyd, candidate for state education superintendent, was able to escape the June 27th runoff by getting just about 50% of the vote despite the crowded field of candidates.  School choice advocates are hopeful that the one-two punch that is Sanford and Floyd will be powerful enough to win the hearts and minds of traditional and non-traditional supporters of school choice.  ("Non-traditional" being the keyword here.  But I’ll get to that in a second.)

While Sanford’s and Floyd’s primary victories were sweet, results from several state legislative races were a bit sour.  Of the fourteen contested Republican House races, eleven incumbents won.  So what’s the problem?  The problem is that many of them voted against school choice legislation in 2005 and again in 2006.  So it was our hope that these guys would get booted and be replaced with some free-thinking, reform-minded candidates who could finally get a win for families who have yet to access real educational options.  Unfortunately and not surpisingly, incumbents are virtually impossible to beat (unless you live in Pennsylvania).  

Only four out of the above-referenced fourteen incumbents voted in favor of school choice.  And Dan Bowen was the only pro-school choice candidate who successfully ousted an incumbent (Becky Martin).  We also looked at a few open seats, and thankfully three of the four seats will have pro-school choice candidates on November’s ballot.  The race is on. 

Which leads me be back to my point about non-traditional supporters.  If we are to get anywhere in the Palmetto State, or any other state for that matter, we need to broaden our cadre of advocates.  Having a reform-minded ("Republican") governor and legislature is a great start, but it’s not good enough.  Traditionally, Republicans have been more supportive of school choice than Democrats.  However, we’ve seen a growing number of non-traditional supporters, i.e. minority Democrats, come onboard.  And it’s imperative that we get more onboard and keep them onboard.  Why is it that the primary beneficiaries of school choice opportunities tend to be minority, low-income, urban dwellers, but their elected officials tend to be Democrats who consistently vote against school choice?  We’ve been saying for years now that this can’t be just a Republican issue.  We’ve been saying for years that school choice isn’t and shouldn’t be partisan.  But it still is.  And we need to find a way to reach out to more people who can see that this is about parental options, making a dent in the achievement gap, opportunities for those who don’t have the means to access them.  It’s not just about free-market opportunities or (as the teachers’ unions would have voters believe) crippling the public education system.  Until we start positioning school choice in a slightly different light (or know our audience), we’ll continue to keep Democrats away and we’ll continue to see some of our own allies, vulnerable Republicans, leave us for the decadence of union support.

Governor Sanford and Karen Floyd are true and vocal champions for school choice, and I hope they can use the momentum from last week’s primaries to not only reinforce the minds of their most ardent supporters, but also develop new avenues of support from those who have access to, and can influence, non-traditional advocates.  And maybe a couple years down the road we’ll focus as heavily on the Democratic primaries as we have on those of the Republicans.  And if that happens, the hope of real systemic reform for the kids who need it most will be fully realized.

Anna Varghese Marcucio is a director of state projects for the Alliance for School Choice.