A friend of mine, Stan Crenshaw, did what precious few of us do these days.  He made his views known by sending a letter to the editor of a newspaper that obviously did a story that was not entirely revealing of all the facts.  He points out some things that several members of the General Assembly would prefer the taxpayers simply not be aware of.  Apparently, some media outlets either feel the same way, or just do not do their "due diligence" in reporting both sides of the issues.  Stan wasted no time pointing this out to the editor of the paper where the original story was published, and thankfully, his letter did some good.  It was published in the "Letters to the Editor" section for all to see.  Kudos to Stan, and also to the editor who chose to not just ignore the error and publish the rest of the actual facts.

Here is Stan's letter, published here with his complete permission:

The title of Sunday’s editorial (“State’s obligation is to improve public schools, not make alternatives affordable”) was wrong. South Carolina’s obligation is to the people of South Carolina, not the bureaucracy of schools.

South Carolina has spent my tax dollars for 40 years, ranking near the bottom of student achievement. Your premise is that what I earn is “public money.” The Supreme Court ruled money spent and claimed as a credit against one’s taxes is private money, not government spending. We’re weary of waiting for “improvement” and have looked elsewhere for our children. Of course, the wealthy can afford this. But among those numbers are those who have eschewed the “wealth” of a two-earner income to home school.

Nowhere do you mention that the result of a student leaving public schools is to leave all federal monies and much of state monies in the public school system. How is that “dismantling public education”?

H4576 is modeled after school choice bills in states such as Florida, where almost 30,000 scholarships were issued based on students’ eligibility through reduced/free lunch criteria. Either the writer hasn’t read H4576 or is blatantly dishonest in claiming, “Tax credits benefit only those with enough income to have large state tax bills.” Thousands of middle class and poor taxpayers turn to private or home schooling for a variety of reasons aside from the superior results. There’s no other recourse for Christian parents who don’t want their values “educated out of” their children. There’s no other recourse for parents with a gifted student who is bored while “no child gets left behind” in his class.

I wish I could honestly say I’m surprised by the disingenuousness of your editorial. Liberals are prone to think more government is always the answer to a government that has become the problem.

Stan Crenshaw

Boiling Springs