Opponents Worry School Choice Measure Just the Start

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — Opponents of a bill on Governor Dennis Daugaard's desk that would offer tax credits for private school scholarship donations worry it lays the groundwork for a more substantial program that would siphon students and support from public schools.

If Daugaard signs the bill, South Dakota will join more than a dozen states that have tax-credit school choice laws.

Public education advocates are urging him to veto it, saying that the state has an obligation to provide public education and that the measure could unconstitutionally direct public funds to religious schools.

Mary McCorkle is president of the South Dakota Education Association. She says it's "the camel's nose in the tent."

Republican Senator Phyllis Heineman, a main sponsor of the South Dakota bill, said it's a "very modest" program.