Latest proposal comes ahead of state Supreme Court hearing, parents’ application deadline for law passed last year
By Skylar Laird
SCDailyGazette.com
COLUMBIA — All of South Carolina’s K-12 students could qualify for public aid toward private schooling under legislation that could exponentially expand the state’s fledgling voucher program.
The latest proposal, introduced Wednesday by House GOP leaders, would make all students, regardless of their parents’ income, eligible for state aid toward private tuition, tutoring, transportation and other services beginning with the 2026-27 school year. They would not have to be enrolled in a public school before qualifying. And the amount each student could get would rise.
It could make South Carolina the 11th state to approve so-called “universal” school choice before the state’s limited K-12 private school choice program even gets off the ground.
“We are excited to think that there could be a potential that we could open up this same opportunity to even more families across our state,” state education Superintendent Ellen Weaver, who advocated for vouchers before her 2022 election, told reporters.
Parents have until March 15 to apply for the first round of taxpayer-funded K-12 scholarships, as per a law signed last May. It provides up to 5,000 Medicaid-eligible students $6,000 each for the upcoming school year — requiring legislators to set aside $30 million in the state budget that starts July 1.
That is, unless the state Supreme Court throws out the law as unconstitutional. House leaders introduced the expansion plan days before the state’s high court hears arguments on a challenge to that law.
As of Wednesday, 2,795 parents had submitted applications for 4,207 children, and 181 private schools statewide have been approved for the program, according to the state Education Department.
The lawsuit — filed by the South Carolina Education Association, state conference of the NAACP and half a dozen parents — argues the taxpayer-funded payments violate the state constitution’s ban against public funds directly benefiting a private school.
GOP leaders have repeatedly said they’re confident the Legislature created a legal workaround of that ban. Under the law, each $6,000 scholarship goes into an account accessible by the student’s parents, who decide how the money’s spent, rather than to any school directly. Parents decide where the money goes, paying for tuition and/or services through an online portal, but can’t withdraw money for reimbursement.
House Speaker Murrell Smith, a co-sponsor, said there’s no need to wait on a ruling before expanding last year’s law.
“We need to get a head start on providing for universal school choice in this state,” the Sumter Republican said.
Patrick Kelly, a lobbyist for the Palmetto State Teachers Association, called the expansion proposal premature.
“We haven’t even implemented the policy we just created,” Kelly said.
The law, passed after a nearly two-decade fight that divided the GOP, already provides for a multi-year expansion of the program. But it caps the cost at roughly $90 million in year three, when participation would rise to 15,000 students whose parents earn up to 400% of the federal poverty rate. (That’s currently $120,000 for a family of four but the cap will be higher in 2026-27 and beyond, since federal poverty guidelines are adjusted annually.)
Under the new plan, income eligibility would instead be eliminated in year three. And starting in year four (2027-28), the 15,000-participant cap would be replaced by however many scholarships the Legislature decides to fund, based on applicants who had to be turned down the year before.
Proponents have long argued private school choice was geared at helping poor parents who can’t afford to send their children anywhere other than the low-performance public school they’re zoned to attend. Removing the income eligibility makes that moot, said Rep. Russell Ott, who generally opposes the program as using taxpayer money for private schools.
“This shows a lot of that talk wasn’t genuine,” the St. Matthews Democrat said.
The proposal also calls for annual adjustments in scholarship amounts, beginning in July 2025. Instead of a set $6,000, the amount would rise proportionally with the percentage increase to public school funding. Since neither the number of scholarships nor their amounts would be capped, how much the expansion could ultimately cost is unknown.
House Education Chairwoman Shannon Erickson, the bill’s main sponsor, noted that priorities for who gets a scholarship would continue.
Students already participating and their siblings would get first dibs. Next in line would be students with disabilities, children in foster care and children of military parents, the Beaufort Republican said. After that, students would be approved on a first-come, first-serve basis for however many slots are approved that year.
“Parents want, and truly need, choices for their children’s education,” said the Beaufort Republican.
Last year’s law “makes enormous strides” toward that effort, she said, adding that her bill creates a “bold, universal system” to help more students.
Skylar Laird covers the South Carolina Legislature and criminal justice issues. Originally from Missouri, she previously worked for The Post and Courier’s Columbia bureau.
