Thursday, Sep. 24, 2009

Firm stance on schools, tax harmful

S.C. Education Superintendent Jim Rex, the front-runner for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination given that he's the only Democrat holding a statewide office, refuses to consider real school choice even if all the reforms he wants and implements fail to bring about the kind of progress we need.

That is how ideologically wedded he is to a public education system that has had 55 years since Brown v. Board of Education to find the correct formula to educate more of its students better.

Even if another decade goes by and he's proven wrong, he still wouldn't consider tax credits or vouchers. That's an untenable level of ideology. Why should he be governor?

On the other end of the ideological spectrum are the five Republican gubernatorial candidates. They won't touch the Confederate flag, saying the issue was settled with the 2000 compromise even though it continues to be a thorn in the state's economic side.

And they remain wedded to the idea that lower taxes are a balm to what ails the state - even after reports from the S.C. Board of Economic Advisors and others showed recent tax cuts made us feel the effects of the recession earlier than we otherwise would have and put a strain our public services. Why should any of them lead us?

I don't know which stance is worse: Rex's refusal to even consider choice programs that are having success in places such as Washington, D.C., which is considered one of the nation's worst school districts; or the Republican candidates' clinging to an economic view that was exposed as harmful.

In the more reasonable parts of their brains, each candidate understands things must change. We are one of the nation's poorest states and heavily subsidized by the federal government. For all the debate about the federal stimulus - which the Federal Reserve and a growing number of economists say is pulling us kicking and screaming into a recovery - South Carolina receives more in federal funds than it sends to Washington. The state is a recipient of federal welfare. Almost one-fifth of our population is uninsured. One-third of our students don't graduate on time, or ever. Our babies weigh less at birth than most other places; our infant mortality rate is high.

By next November, maybe a candidate who can overcome allegiance to a particular ideology will emerge.

I'm not counting on it.Bailey's "Proud. Black. Southern. (But I Still Don't Eat Watermelon in Front of White People)" can be purchased at The Sun News or ProudBlackSoutherner.com. He can be reached at ibailey@thesunnews.com or 626-0357.