As South Carolina's current legislative session kicks into high gear, it is worth considering how legislators' current priorities compare to what they did, or tried to do, last year.

As I write this, a Senate Education subcommittee has just fast-tracked two bills which would put the state in charge of determining which restrooms students use.  As we have shared in the past (see our "Bathroom Bills" explainer under the Resources tab for more information), making transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals use bathrooms and changing rooms they don't feel comfortable using doesn't keep students safe, but it does real harm to our LGBTQ+ students, their families, and their communities. During their discussion today, senators indicated they planned to quickly take up House Bill 4756, which, like Senate Bill 199, is clearly targeted at restricting the rights of LGBTQ+ students. If the two versions of the bill are reconciled, the legislation has a much better chance of passing before the end of the session.

Last year, the legislature fast-tracked a voucher bill into law. That bill, a response to the state Supreme Court overturning much of the previous voucher law, was met with widespread criticism. Opponents warned it would send money primarily to existing private school students, that it would result in taxpayer funds being spent in an opaque and unaccountable way, and that it would go to schools and programs which discriminate against students on the basis of religion and identity. Only halfway through the current session, all of those concerns have come to pass, with even Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, a proponent of the bill, accusing the Department of Education of "a deliberate effort to circumvent the law," by encouraging families of homeschooled students to use the funds, leading to approximately 12% of the funds going to homeschool programs.  The past year since implementation of the voucher law has seen cases of fraud and misuse of the funds by the Department, as well as private schools taking the funds while rejecting students on the basis of religion and LGBTQ+ status.

And just as state officials focused on "parental rights" last year-- with Superintendent Ellen Weaver's book ban regulation leading to the most statewide bans of books from schools in the country-- this year has seen the introduction of similar state-level "parental rights" legislation that focuses heavily on creating legal "causes of action" for individual parents to sue schools and educators. This kind of legislation, and the rhetoric around it, does nothing to address most South Carolinian's concerns about how schools are funded and supported, but much to continue to demonize teachers, librarians, and LGBTQ+ students and families.

With only a few months to go in this legislative session, it is more important than ever for citizens concerned about truth in education to reach out to elected representatives. Please urge them to focus on common-sense improvements to our state's school funding, rational approaches to addressing our ongoing teacher hiring and retention issues, and legislation which benefits ALL families and students in South Carolina, and not just the privileged few who can access school vouchers.