Testimony in Support of H 5164 Before the South Carolina House Committee on Education and Public Works
Tim Benson, Senior Policy Analyst
Heartland Impact
March 6, 2024
Chairman Erickson and Members of the Committee:
Thank you for holding this hearing on H 5164, which would expand the Education Scholarship Trust Fund Program (ESTFP) so that every South Carolina student can participate in it.
My name is Tim Benson, and I am a policy analyst with Heartland Impact. Heartland Impact is the advocacy and outreach arm of The Heartland Institute. Both are independent, national, nonprofit organizations working to discover, develop, and promote free-market solutions to social and economic problems. Heartland specializes on providing state lawmakers the policy and advocacy resources to advance free-market policies towards broad-based economic prosperity.
Since the ESTFP as already established broadly includes most South Carolina children, I don’t need to sell you on the merits of this program, since you just enacted it last session and you’re obviously familiar with it and, I think it is safe to say, you obviously agree with me
However, let me just say that copious empirical research[i] on school choice programs[ii] like the ESTFP makes clear these programs offer families improved access to high-quality schools that meet their children’s unique needs and circumstances, and that these programs improve academic performance and attainment and deliver a quality education at lower cost than traditional public schools. Additionally, education choice benefits public school students and taxpayers by increasing competition, decreasing segregation, and improving civic values and practices.
Research also shows students at private schools are less likely than their public school peers to experience problems such as alcohol abuse, bullying, drug use, fighting, gang activity, racial tension, theft, vandalism, and weapon-based threats.[iii] There is also a strong causal link suggesting private school choice programs improve the mental health of participating students.[iv]
Unfortunately, there are still a few South Carolina families that cannot make use of the ESTFP and ensure that they have the right to send their children to the school of their choice. H 5164 would remedy that.
The goal of public education in South Carolina today and in the years to come should be to allow all parents to choose which schools their children attend, require every school to compete for every student who walks through its doors, and make sure every child has the opportunity to attend a quality school that best fits their unique needs and circumstances. Passing this expansion of the ESTFP will go a significant way toward meeting that goal. There has not been a time when providing these opportunities has been more urgent and more needed than right now. H 5164 deserves every legislator’s support.
Thank you for your time.
Heartland Impact can send an expert to your state to testify or brief your caucus; host an event in your state; or send you further information on a topic. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if we can be of assistance! If you have any questions or comments, contact Cameron Sholty, at csholty@heartlandimpact.org or 312/377- 4000.
[i] EdChoice, The ABCs of School Choice (2024 Edition), November 13, 2023, https://www.edchoice.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/2024-ABCs-of-School-Choice.pdf.
[ii] Greg Forster, A Win-Win Solution: The Empirical Evidence on School Choice (Fourth Edition), EdChoice, May 18, 2016, https://www.edchoice.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/A-Win-Win-Solution-The-Empirical-Evidence-on-School-Choice.pdf.
[iii] M. Danish Shakeel & Corey A. DeAngelis, “Can private schools improve school climate? Evidence from a nationally representative sample,” Journal of School Choice, Volume 12, Issue 3, August 8, 2018, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15582159.2018.1490383?scroll=top&needAccess=true&journalCode=wjsc20.
[iv] Corey DeAngelis & Angela K. Dills, The Effects of School Choice on Mental Health, October 29, 2018, https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3272550.
