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South Carolina legislative leaders have failed thus far to live up to their promise to make expanded school choice their “top priority” after a former iteration of the state supreme court struck down a limited, fledgling law last fall.
Last September, the state’s high court (as previously configured) narrowly struck down broad sections of the Education Scholarship Trust Fund (ESTF) – a program created by the S.C. General Assembly and administered by the S.C. Department of Education (SCDE). According to its controversial ruling, the fund provided a “direct benefit” to private education institutions which violated “constitutional limits on the use of public funds.”
Since that decision, über-liberal chief justice Donald Beatty has retired from the bench and been replaced by John Kittredge – who authored a scathing rebuke of the majority ruling. New justice Letitia Verdin has also taken her seat on the court.
State senator Greg Hembree of Myrtle Beach, S.C. acknowledged the altered composition of the court could result in justices offering a dramatically different interpretation of the law than they did in last fall’s 3-2 decision.
“It’s gonna be a different court,” Hembree told FITSNews, adding that “the new chief justice wrote a scathing dissent” of the court’s rebuke of the scholarship fund. According to Hembree, Kittredge’s dissent accurately assessed the will of the legislature.
“It was like he was in our mind,” he said.
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In his dissent, Kittredge specifically rebuked the court’s contention that South Carolina’s small, fledgling school choice program had somehow adversely impacted government-run schools.
“The legislature has substantially increased funding to public schools each year, and this pattern has not been interrupted by the passage of the ESTF Act,” Kittredge wrote. “In fact, the state’s public education system received a record amount of funding in the last state budget.”
Indeed. South Carolina’s failing government-run school system – which serves an estimated 769,703 students – is shelling out $18,842 per child, per year according to the latest estimates from the S.C. Revenue and Fiscal Affairs (SCRFA) office. That is a staggering $14.5 billion of taxpayer money per year being spent on diminishing returns.
In an effort to address concerns raised by the former court, Hembree has proposed a bill undoing the previous choice program – which provided a limited amount of money from a scholarship trust fund – and replacing it with money drawn from the S.C. Education Lottery.
“A majority of the supreme court said the money coming through the lottery was not the same,” Hembree told FITSNews this week. “I’m just taking what the supreme court is giving us and writing a bill to address that.”
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Hembree’s bill – S. 62 – would allow for up to 10,000 scholarships in the coming fiscal year (2025-2026) and up to 15,000 scholarships in each successive year. These scholarships would be valued at “an amount equal to the average per pupil funding from state sources for the prior academic year.”
That works out to an average of approximately $8,590 per scholarship, based on the current state budget.
Another bill – sponsored by state senator Tom Davis of Beaufort – would provide an income tax credit for contributions made to scholarship-funding organizations (SFOs) which award “grants for students to attend certain independent and home schools.”
Davis’ bill – S. 50 – could be considered alongside Hembree’s proposed legislation.
“I’ve made a commitment to take that bill up,” Hembree told this media outlet. “I’m going to assign it to a subcommittee and start holding hearings. I’m not in the either/or camp.”
Supporters of Davis’ legislation have argued it avoids any of the constitutional questions associated with public money going to private schools.
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RELATED | SCHOOL CHOICE ‘RESCUE FUND’ ESTABLISHED
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S.C. Senate minority leader Brad Hutto – one of only thirteen Democrats in the 46-member chamber – spoke against Hembree’s legislation during a hearing of the Senate education committee on Wednesday (January 8, 2025).
“I’m concerned that we’re trying to rush it to the floor,” Hutto said, arguing a fundamental change to the way South Carolina funds choice should involve extensive public hearings.
Hutto also noted lottery dollars – the source of Hembree’s scholarships – continue to dwindle, putting the whole program at risk. Most significantly, he argued moving the funding source to the lottery failed to address the concerns raised by the former court.
“We are clearly violating the constitution,” he said.
Additionally, Hutto criticized Hembree’s bill for allowing upper income families access to the scholarships.
“This is gonna be used to allow people who already send their children to private schools to get a subsidy they don’t need,” Hutto said. “There’s no private school option in rural South Carolina.”
School choice supporter Olga Lisinska also panned Hembree’s bill – albeit from a different ideological perspective.
“If he really thinks that ‘lottery money’ isn’t public funds – and that’s going to work (or) will be constitutional – it’s a shame,” she said. “I do not believe it will ever work. It will pass, get challenged, and will fail… just like the (ESTF).”
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According to Lisinska, Davis’ tax credit bill “is constitutional… and it’s the only thing that will pass (and) actually help children.”
Meanwhile, in the S.C. House of Representatives, Jordan Pace has vowed to reintroduce legislation which would provide parents with $7,000 per child refundable tax credit – with unlimited eligibility.
As previously reported, S.C. Senate president Thomas Alexander and S.C. House speaker Murrell Smith have claimed school choice will be their “highest priority” in the coming legislative session – which will gavel to session next Tuesday (January 14, 2025). So far, though, neither leader appears to be expending any political capital on the issue.
According to the Cato Institute, South Carolina trails its neighboring states and regional rivals in academic freedom – ranking No. 27 on the latest list. Florida and Georgia rank No. 3 and 8, respectively, while North Carolina, Kentucky and Virginia rank No. 12, No. 14 and No. 15, respectively.
“The single most important educational freedom variable is the index of tax credit and deduction laws for private education,” Cato analysts noted.
Sadly, despite “Republicans” enjoying supermajority status in both chambers of the legislature and control of the governor’s office, the Palmetto State remains an island of top-down “one size fits none” government failure amid an ocean of rising academic freedom.
FITSNews has consistently advocated on behalf of expanded school choice – for more than a decade, in fact. As I have often noted, choice is the “silver bullet” in education – the key to “unlocking academic achievement, stimulating innovation and creating the only accountability that’s worth a damn, the accountability of the marketplace.”
Count on us to continue pushing for substantive, universal school choice as the 2025-2026 legislative session gets underway…
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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