Students deserve chance to move
Students in South Carolina will have greater options within public schools, as a bill to enable transfers progressed to the Senate on Wednesday.
The bill, which was approved on a voice vote by a Senate Education subcommittee, allows students to engage in open enrollment, a practice that maintains that students may attend any school regardless of attendance lines at no cost. The bill also states that school districts would be required to offer students at all grade levels at least one choice other than the school they are zoned to attend. Some options include language-immersion programs, as well as magnet and charter schools.
The proposed bill will be beneficial for many students who are in public schools that don’t necessarily meet their needs. Many students find themselves immersed in programs that do not challenge them enough, but are left in inadequate schools due to zoning.
The bill does impose a cap on transfers, limiting them to 3 percent of the receiving school’s population. It is estimated that 20,000 students would be able to transfer, a number that some, like Republican state Superintendent Mike Zais, find to be too low. He won’t oppose the bill but doesn’t support it, The State reported.
Most supporters of the bill are those opposed to private school, including school boards, public school teachers and those whose children are in public school. For students who are unable to afford private schooling, the bill gives students many of the same benefits of a private school.
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