Commentary: Sanford gives public schools the business

Weeks ago, Gov. Mark Sanford and his lackies were going hither and yon saying that the Governor only had control of $700 million of the money coming from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The money that, by the way, the legislature was supposed to have control of, per U.S. House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn.

Oh, how things have changed, and yet they have not. Now, lawyers are parsing language to figure out who has control over what, and Sanford is now saying that he has control over the whole lot of it, which is what Speaker of the House Bobby Harrell said a long time ago.

Now, because Sanford has painted himself in a corner, he accepted the other of the stimulus funds, but is saying the $700 million over two years that everyone has been talking about is off the table unless the General Assembly uses it to pay off state debt.

Mind you, this money goes to deal with shortfalls in money for public schools, higher education, the Department of Juvenile Justice and the Department of Corrections. But, Sanford never cared for public schools before, so, acting like a football player asking for a personal foul penalty, he did his thing with reckless abandon.

Often, the argument is made that if we do not invest in education, we will have to invest in prisons. The Governor, amazingly, has given the kibosh to both under a fundamentalist devotion to an extremist economic policy.

Sanford’s actions totally undercut any action he could make this session about his “school choice” beliefs. It is obvious he wants to starve public schools in this state, and does not give a damn about it.

Let’s face it: South Carolina has a long and troubled history with its public schools. First, power brokers would not want to invest much money in the white schools because the textile mills in our state needed cheap, uneducated labor. Then, after desegregation and a nearly 30-year fight across the South, public schools were given a pass because of the virulent racism that gave rise to white private academies.

So, South Carolina is not alone in this. Public schools across the South suffer from the same history of poor stewardship. But, few other states have a governor that is so blatantly antagonistic to the state’s No. 1 budget priority.

Now, we face a nice outcome of the 2009 budget: bare-bones schools and prisoners let go early because there is not the money to pay for either. And, that may well be Sanford’s legacy. He said in the New York Times that he sleeps well because he does not care about being loved by the public.

Well, there will be much more great sleep in the future for the Governor. For the rest of us? Not so much.