Public schools in Allendale and Lee counties may be the absolute worst schools in all of the United States. They are certainly the lowest performing in South Carolina, where the statewide average SAT scores and graduation rate linger at or around 50th each year in national rankings.

Two of the most troubled are Fairfax Elementary in Allendale and Mount Pleasant Middle in Lee. According to state-issued school report cards, only 9 percent of Mount Pleasant Middle students are proficient in math and English. At Fairfax, it’s just 6 percent.

The State Department of Education refuses to take direct control of these failing schools. Such a move would not be unprecedented. From 1999 to 2007, the entire district of Allendale was managed by the state.

South Carolina’s State Superintendent Jim Rex isn’t helping much either.

Commenting on the move by the State Board of Education not to intervene he explained: “We decided to put [these schools] on a short leash but give them another chance.” Comparing failing schools to misbehaving dogs is neither insightful nor productive. In fact, it’s downright degrading.

Rex is forced into this position because he knows that state government won’t succeed where local school districts have so painfully failed. But politically, Rex has committed himself to the anti-choice, government-centered approach to education advocated by the public education unions.

Greater centralization of K-12 education through the State Department of Education has failed miserably. According to reports by the Center on Education Policy and the Southern Regional Education Board, both white-black and rich-poor student achievement gaps have grown in South Carolina since 2002. More government has made the problems worse, not better, in South Carolina.

Nor is money the problem. In 2006, Allendale public schools served 1,704 students and spent $23,680,637.00 to educate them. That works out to $13,897.09 per pupil – thousands more than spending in neighboring states. But Rex and his allies remain unwilling to discuss greater choices for parents.

No one can seriously expect a state government that oversees the nation’s highest violent crime rate and the country’s third highest illiteracy rate to design and administer an effective and equitable system of schools. Rather than continue to fail these children by denying them educational opportunity, lawmakers ought to take a portion of the $13,800-per-pupil allotment and give it to parents for their children.

Even just a third of that money would be enough for a private school tuition (the national average is less than $5,000). This would mean more money for those who remain in public schools, improvements for all students through introduction of competition and the ability of parents to control their children’s educational future.

Randy Page serves as president of South Carolinians for Responsible Government, a statewide grass-roots organization that promotes limited government, lower taxes and increased educational options. Page may be reached at randy@scrgov.org

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