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POLITICSSC Politics

Picking Up South Carolina’s School Choice Slack

‘Rescue fund’ helps families screwed over by activist court ruling…

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Multiple donors have pledged hundreds of thousands of dollars apiece to help South Carolina children and families adversely impacted by the Palmetto State supreme court’s controversial decision to scuttle a fledgling school choice program.

Last fall, a former iteration of the court struck down broad sections of the Education Scholarship Trust Fund (ESTF) – a program created by the S.C. General Assembly and administered by the state’s Department of Education (SCDE). According to the court’s 3-2 ruling, this fund – which provided 5,000 scholarships to students at $6,000 a pop – constituted a “direct benefit” to private education institutions in violation of “constitutional limits on the use of public funds.”

Apparently, the only permissible use of these funds is to further inflate the $19,000 per year (per child) going to the Palmetto State’s worst-in-the-nation government-run system

Sadly, legislative leaders declined to challenge the court’s ruling…

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While lawmakers scramble to fix the mess, thousands of families have been left in the lurch… as the court decided to indulge its activist streak roughly a month into the 2024-2025 school year.

“The supreme court waited over 180 days after oral arguments to deliver a decision that has been devastating to families who had every reason to believe that their ESTF school choice scholarships would be funded for the entire 2024-25 school year,” Wendy Damron said at the time.

Damron is the leader of Palmetto Promise, a conservative South Carolina advocacy organization which has pushed ESTF legislation. She is also a recent recipient of the Heritage Foundation’s ‘Doer Award’ for her efforts to establish a rescue fund to assist families impacted by the ruling.

This week, Damron’s group announced three new donors had contributed gifts to the rescue fund – pushing its total to $2.2 million. This means the scholarships initially provided by the ESTF bill – the ones taken away by the court – have been fully funded for the second and third quarters of the academic year (and partially funded for the fourth quarter).

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Wendy Damron of Palmetto Promise receives the Heritage Foundation’s ‘Doer Award’ for her efforts on behalf of school choice families in South Carolina. (Palmetto Promise)

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The new gifts included $500,000 from an anonymous donor, along with $100,000 each from the Children’s Scholarship Fund and the JM Foundation. These new donors join the $500,000 donation from South Carolina native Ravenel Curry III and $900,000 from Pennsylvania businessman and philanthropist Jeff Yassboth awarded in 2024. Palmetto Promise leaders also hailed a “wide range of smaller donations,” ranging from $25 to $50,000.

“These contributions are not just gifts to these families,” Damron said. “They are an investment in the long-term health of South Carolina’s school choice movement and a powerful example of the impact individuals can make to keep this issue at the forefront of public policy. Now we look to the General Assembly to find a permanent school choice solution without delay.”

Sadly, “delay” seems to be the order of the day on this critical issue…

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 gaveled to session two weeks ago. So far, though, neither leader has introduced legislation or expended any political capital on the issue.

So much for that “highest priority” rhetoric…

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RELATED | SCHOOL CHOICE BATTLE

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According to the Cato Institute, South Carolina lags well behind its neighboring states and regional rivals in academic freedom – ranking No. 27 on the group’s 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, actually. 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.”

When will the GOP “supermajority” get on board with that concept? And stop empowering the woke educrats running the state’s failed system?

Count on our media outlet to continue holding them accountable until they reverse course and start putting parents in charge instead of a failed, increasingly left-leaning bureaucracy…

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …

Will Folks on phone
Will Folks (Brett Flashnick)

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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5 comments

Tom January 28, 2025 at 4:28 pm

Yawn, they don’t need rescue. We provide schools for them. If they don’t want to use those schools that is their choice. They have 100% freedom of choice; public or PRIVATE. What they don’t have is the freedom to require me to help them pay for their kid to go to a private school. I don’t want any of my tax money going to SC’s worst-in-the-nation private schools.

Reply
John January 29, 2025 at 8:43 am

Tom,

You are truly a piece of shit. People pay for schools that are unusable via their taxes and then have to pay again if they don’t want their children indoctrinated and turn out to be assholes like you.

Reply
Tom January 31, 2025 at 5:57 pm

If you want your Kid in private school and can’t afford it, get a better job, or another job, or ask your wife to get a better job or a second job. Please don’t ask me to help. There are plenty of charities I am willing to give to. There are plenty of kids I am willing to help if they ask and give me information on what they need; but not some person I don’t know; who has decided he or she does not like the schools provided, and who I have no information on whether he or she needs help.

Why don’t you send money to me to give to one of my charities? Isn’t that the same thing? Or are you just an asshole who wants to take money from other people to support your lifestyle? I don’t know you. Do you work long hours? Do you drive expensive cars and go on expensive vacations? Do you waste money on frivolous things like golf, hunting trips, and expensive hobbies for the kids? Do you have a spouse who does not work? Should I not be entitled to know all those things before deciding if the money I work hard for is going to help you pay for your kid to go to some expensive private school?

Reply
Marie February 8, 2025 at 6:05 pm

Tax dollars should follow the students to the accredited school of choice. Instead of being funneled to a (many times) failing and degenerate environment. It benefits our country as a whole to send each child to a place that enables them to thrive. As a former elementary public school teacher I would never send my child to what I have now observed to be a failing public institution. It’s also important to note that public schools should absolutely keep up on their behavior standards and expel the kids that do not comply. The public school has to continually accept every bad behavior to the detriment of all the other students sitting in the class.

Reply
Marie February 8, 2025 at 6:08 pm

Tax dollars should follow the students to the accredited school of choice. Instead of being funneled to a (many times) failing and degenerate environment. It benefits our country as a whole to send each child to a place that enables them to thrive. As a former elementary public school teacher I would never send my child to what I have now observed to be a failing public institution.

It’s also important to note that private schools should absolutely keep up on their behavior/belief standards and expel the kids that do not comply. The public school has to continually accept every bad behavior to the detriment of all the other students sitting in the class.

Reply

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