COLUMBIA — South Carolina education officials are urging the state Supreme Court to revise its recent ruling regarding K-12 vouchers, advocating for parents to continue using taxpayer-funded scholarships for private tuition until the conclusion of the current school year.
The Supreme Court’s September 11 decision halted all payments for private tuition, impacting approximately “1,500 scholarship recipients,” according to a filing from the Department of Education this week, which requested the justices to reconsider their ruling.
“These children’s school year will be thrown into chaos. But this need not be so,” stated the filing from attorneys representing state Superintendent Ellen Weaver. Weaver, along with Governor Henry McMaster, is requesting a rehearing, hoping for a reversal of the majority opinion. However, if that doesn’t happen, she is asking for a delay in the implementation of the ruling to prevent families from facing the disruption of a mid-year transfer back to their previous schools.
The Department of Education argues that allowing payments to continue until June 1, 2025, would enable students to complete the school year at the institutions they initially chose.
The filing reveals that “nearly 700 students” had their tuition payments processed in the initial weeks of the school year. However, invoices for additional students arrived after the agency ceased processing payments to private schools, according to documents obtained by the SC Daily Gazette.
While the court filing does not specify how the agency calculated the 1,500-student estimate or the total amount paid for tuition, it does provide the only public figures regarding private school participation since the ruling. The Gazette has sought a breakdown of these numbers.
The school choice law passed by Republicans last year allocated parents $6,000 through four installments to cover approved expenses, primarily private tuition, but also tutoring, educational therapy, and other costs like textbooks. The first $1,500 installment was distributed in July.
In a narrow 3-2 decision, justices concluded that the voucher payments violated the state constitution’s prohibition on public funds directly benefiting private education, effectively terminating all private tuition payments.
If the 1,500-student estimate is accurate, it represents just over half of the 2,880 students accepted into the program for its inaugural year. The law capped participation at 5,000 students for this school year, yet of the 7,907 applicants, most were deemed ineligible, according to education department data.
GOP leaders in both the House and Senate have chosen not to seek a rehearing, expressing disagreement with the ruling but not anticipating a different outcome. Their focus is now on the upcoming legislative session.
Patrick Kelly, a lobbyist for the Palmetto State Teachers Association, noted that the number of impacted students is lower than expected, estimating it would be closer to 2,000 of the 2,880 enrolled. “It surprises me it’s not higher,” he remarked. Other families reportedly planned to use the funds for non-tuition expenses, according to Department of Education spokesperson Jason Raven.
To qualify for the taxpayer-funded scholarships this year, students needed to be either enrolled in a public school last year or entering kindergarten. They could use the funds for private tuition or to attend a public school outside their district, as state law allows districts to charge tuition for non-resident students to cover local property taxes.
The lower-than-expected participation may stem from families who enrolled their children in private schools but hadn’t yet made payments when the court’s ruling was issued, suggested Felicity Ropp of the Palmetto Promise Institute. Some families chose not to use the funds at all or realized they lacked viable private school options in their areas.
In some instances, parents misunderstood the program’s structure, with some believing the funds could cover services for their child without necessitating a school change, while others thought the money could contribute to college expenses instead of K-12 schooling, Ropp explained. Kelly expressed surprise that many families might be using the funds for non-tuition purposes, as this diverges from the program’s intended focus on private school tuition.
The Department of Education’s petition argues that without continued scholarship payments, families currently using the funds for private school tuition would have to return their children to public schools, as outlined in the court’s decision.
The program was primarily aimed at assisting low-income families, with only Medicaid-eligible students qualifying. Income eligibility was capped at 200% of the federal poverty level, which is $51,640 for a family of three. The law allows this cap to increase to 400% of the poverty level by the program’s third year.
Many families may struggle to afford private school tuition without state support, the department contended. Kelly, who also teaches an honors government class at Blythewood High School, emphasized the importance of keeping options open for families. “As an educator and a parent, anything that gives a pathway for these families to stay in the school where they started the year is worth considering,” he said.
