“One size doesn’t fit all”

During a question-answer period, two Oconee state lawmakers made clear they are coming around, to an extent, to the school choice movement in South Carolina. When one member of the Oconee Republican Party audience asked if that meant favoring vouchers—allowing public funds to be spent on private school enrollments—State Senator Thomas Alexander said, “I don’t know if you call it vouchers, per se, but I think there are other ways we can provide credits.” State Representative Bill Whitmire, a retired public school teacher, explained that the school choice bill that passed in the House chamber last session, in his opinion, was the first to have oversight and accountability. “You can’t have a school that was not going to have the same accountability that the public schools had if you are going to get public money,” he said.