S.C. Opens Application Window for Private School Vouchers
Skylar Laird/S.C. Daily Gazette
COLUMBIA — Most students who applied for South Carolina’s private K-12 tuition aid program this year were either already attending private school or homeschooled, according to data from the Department of Education.
The law signed by Gov. Henry McMaster in May provided $7,500 scholarships to 10,000 students this school year. It’s unknown exactly how many parents received state aid for tuition they previously paid for themselves. It appears the education agency didn’t actually collect that information.
Instead, the Education Scholarship Trust Fund application asked whether students were entering kindergarten, attended a public school last year, or something else — officially, “other.” Parents selected that “other” category on 59% of the 16,127 applications submitted by mid-August, according to agency data provided to the SC Daily Gazette through a public records request.
They likely attended a private school, though some may have been homeschooled, said Felicity Ropp, whose job with Palmetto Promise Institute involves helping parents sign up for the program. The law does not allow state scholarships for homeschooling.
Also unclear is how many — and which — students ended up on a waitlist.
This year, the 10,000 slots were filled on a first-come, first-served basis. According to the application data, at least 10% of parents reported making too much to qualify. But the education agency has not provided a breakdown of how many applicants were deemed ineligible or other specifics about students accepted into the program, including their previous schooling.
Applicants for 2025-26
It makes sense that parents of students in private school were quick to apply, said Patrick Kelly, lobbyist for the Palmetto State Teachers Association.
Private schools and private choice advocates were providing information to parents, and getting a scholarship would save them money, he added.
But public schools weren’t spreading the word. The details were also unknown when sign-ups started in mid-January under the previous law — just as debate on the legislation started.
“No one’s going to apply for a program they don’t know exists,” Kelly said, adding that public schools should do a better job of telling parents the money is available.
Application windows
For students getting a scholarship this year — as well as any of their siblings — the early application period for slots next school year opens Saturday, as required by the law passed in the spring. Legislators put priority windows in the law for first dibs on the state-funded scholarships.
The next application round starts Jan. 15 for students attending a public school this year, families making up to 300% of the federal poverty level, and/or children of active-duty military personnel stationed in South Carolina.
Everyone else who’s eligible can start applying Feb. 9.
For next school year, that means all families with incomes up to 500% of the federal poverty level. A family of four, for example, qualifies as long as the parents’ income is no more than $160,750, according to the latest poverty guidelines, which increase annually.
By law, at least 15,000 students will be enrolled for aid in 2026-27. The scholarship amount, which rises with state increases in public school spending, is expected to be at least $7,600, according to the Department of Education.
How many students get the taxpayer aid will likely be part of next year’s budget debate. The law set 15,000 as the minimum availability for 2026-27 and beyond. If more eligible students apply, as occurred for this year’s 10,000-student cap, legislators can fund more scholarships.
That is, unless another legal challenge brings payments to a halt.
A state Supreme Court ruling in September 2024 stopped payments for private tuition soon after the program’s start. Justices found those scholarships violated the state constitution’s ban on public money directly benefiting private education. Private donors paid tuition for about 800 students so they could stay in their private schools last school year.
Republican legislators made passing a law to restart the state aid their top priority for 2025. Whether the law signed in May legally skirts the constitution’s rule will likely again be a question for the state’s highest court.
Another lawsuit is coming, said Dena Crews, president of the South Carolina Education Association, which sued last time.
Its lawyers are still gathering and reviewing data as they seek to prove the money still provides a “direct benefit” to private schools.
“Who’s getting the money?” Crews said about the aid. “Is it truly going to families who want to move their child from public school to private school, or is it helping out private schools and their budgets?”
She had no estimate for when the association will file the suit.
Who applied
Under the previous law signed in 2023, students entering the program had to be leaving a public school or entering kindergarten.
The new law threw those limitations out the window.
As long as families meet income eligibility rules, they can apply. For the 10,000 slots this school year, families couldn’t earn more than 300% of the federal poverty level, which is $96,450 for a family of four.
The scholarships will be a big help to many parents with students in private school, Ropp said.
Just because they were paying for tuition doesn’t mean they’re well off financially. They may have been scraping by to put their child in private school, she said.
The state aid can also be used for other expenses, such as tutoring and computers, she noted.
“Having any kind of financial relief is just a huge deal for these families,” Ropp said.
According to the application data, just over half of the students, or 8,500, were eligible for Medicaid. That means their parents made less than 210% of federal poverty levels, or $66,900 for a family of four. For over 10% of students, or 1,700, their parents reported incomes above this year’s limits, according to the data.
When legislators passed the 2023 law, supporters presented it as a lifeline for poor children stuck in a failing school because their parents couldn’t afford any other option. But opening it up to existing private school students changes the mission, said Sen. Russell Ott, who opposes the program.
“This is clearly not about trying to help poor kids escape failing schools,” the St. Matthews Democrat said. “What this has morphed into is subsidization of private schools and doing it with public dollars.”
Sen. Wes Climer said his support was never limited to any income bracket. He wants to expand the program even further to make all children eligible for a state scholarship — what’s known as universal school choice.
“The purpose of the program is to provide for robust competition in the education arena,” said the Rock Hill Republican, who’s running for Congress.
According to the application data, the parents of about 70% of the students reported their children would attend a private school this year. Less than 15% reported wanting to use the money to enroll in a different public school. The rest marked “other,” without clarifying.
If most of the students accepted into the program used it to pay private tuition, those schools might increase tuition, pricing out the students least able to pay the difference, Kelly said.
During debate on the legislation, Republicans repeatedly rejected proposals to cap tuition or bar price hikes on students in the program.
“This time next year, no one should be surprised that the average private school tuition went up in South Carolina,” Kelly said. “That’s the next step.”
Where the money went
For the first half of last school year, Best Buy received far more money than any other single vendor, with families spending nearly $1.4 million there. Another $240,000 went to Staples, according to data from the education agency, which stops on Jan. 17.
That’s the date Rep. Neal Collins, R-Easley, requested a report to share for debate on the House floor. The SC Daily Gazette asked for spending figures through the end of the school year, but the agency wanted more than $2,300 to provide it.
About half of the report’s spending came after the state Supreme Court’s Sept. 11, 2024, ruling, which immediately stopped payments to private schools. The rest of the law stayed intact, allowing families to use their money for other eligible expenses, such as computers.
Even though payments for private tuition had to stop just one month into the school year, a handful of private schools were among the top recipients of money the first semester.
Among schools, Westgate Christian School in Spartanburg topped the list at $63,236, indicating a lot of its students received scholarships. Tuition at Westgate ranges from $5,600 for elementary school to $5,800 for high school, according to the school’s website. Administrators did not respond to a request for comment.
“It’s up to the parents to decide where to send their students,” Ropp said.
Who’s running the program
The new law added a trustee to oversee the program as a response to the state Supreme Court’s concerns. Putting a third-party trustee in charge of scholarship transfers, supporters argued, gets around the constitution’s ban of a “direct benefit” to private schools. Whether justices agree will be for them to decide.
The Department of Education selected Columbia accountant Mark Hobbs on May 28, just three weeks after the law was signed, according to a contract the SC Daily Gazette obtained through a public records request.
It shows that accountants at Hobbs’ firm, The Hobbs Group, will receive $400 per hour to work on parents’ accounts. All other staff will make $125 to $200 per hour.
The agency did not respond to a request for Hobbs’ resume or answer questions about how many people applied.
The law allows the trustee to take up to 5% of the trust fund as payment for overseeing the accounts. The agency must report the actual dollar figure to the Legislature’s budget writers by Dec. 31.
Parents access the scholarship money through an online portal. They do not actually receive any dollars, and they can’t get reimbursed. They must direct through the portal where to send the money.
Hobbs’ job is to move the money to parents’ accounts through four equal installments and then pay the approved vendors, according to his contract.
The Department of Education remains responsible for checking every 45 days that students remain eligible for the money.
Top 10 recipients*
Best Buy: $1,394,642
Staples: $243,178
Office Depot: $134,359
Westgate Christian School: $63,326
Maranatha Christian School: $37,500
RoyalT Learning Center, LLC: $31,145
Divine Redeemer Catholic School: $29,920
Our Lady of Peace Catholic School: $28,500
St. Joseph School: $27,000
Quinteria Ervin, owner of Ervin’s Enrichment: $22,532
*Report created only from July 1, 2024 – Jan. 17, 2025
Source: Department of Education data
By mid-August, parents submitted applications for 16,127 students. Here’s the type of school they attended in 2024-25:
None — incoming kindergartener: 2,078
Public school: 3,692
Public charter school: 775
Other: 9,582
Source: S.C. Department of Education
