Billionaire awards a new version of the Yass Prize, this time to help an entire state
This story by Lisa Buie originally appeared on Next Steps Blog.
The big news: Yamilette Albertson Rodriguez could hardly contain her excitement. A Philadelphia billionaire whose name she had never heard before had donated $900,000 to cover tuition for her three kids and other students whose state scholarships had been ripped away by a South Carolina Supreme Court ruling.
“This is awesome!” said Rodriguez, a 37-year-old manager at a Sherwin-Williams store in the Lowcountry town of Bluffton near Hilton Head Island. “I can breathe again.”
Jeffrey Yass, a businessman and philanthropist worth $49.6 billion,. co-founded Susquehanna International Group, a Wall Street trading giant. Yass and his wife, Janine, have poured a growing share of their fortune into education causes. They most recently funded the Yass Prize, a competitive program that awarded hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants and an annual $1 million top prize to education innovators.
The Palmetto Promise Institute, which championed the South Carolina Education Scholarship Trust Fund program when state lawmakers passed it last year, broke the news Thursday morning that Yass’ donation would cover all participating students’ private school tuition through Dec. 31. The think tank is seeking donors to help cover costs until the legislature can approve changes that help the program pass constitutional muster.
“(Some of these schools) would be taking huge financial losses, especially some of the schools that took dozens of families, dozens of these ESA kids,” Wendy Damron, the institute’s president and CEO told the Post and Courier. “They would take this huge financial hit and maybe be hesitant to try it again. So, he was just making an investment in our kids in South Carolina.”
Catch up quick: The Education Scholarship Trust Fund was the product of two decades of efforts to pass an education choice program that was not limited to students with unique needs.
Low-income families approved for the program received $6,000 per child that parents could use for 15 different categories of expenses, including tutoring, therapy, and tuition. Months after its enactment, a group that included the South Carolina Education Association sued the state, arguing that the program violated the South Carolina Constitution’s ban on public funds being used for the direct benefit of any religious or other private educational institution. Attorneys for the state and for the families countered that the direct benefit went to parents, not institutions, and noted the existence of similar programs for preschoolers and college students.
The ruling: On Sept. 11, 180 days into the school year, the state Supreme Court issued a 3-2 ruling that struck down the provision allowing the scholarships to go toward tuition, saying it didn’t matter that the parents were the ones who chose where to spend money from among a variety of schools.
The fallout: The decision left parents, whose household incomes were 200% above the federal poverty line, scrambling for alternatives if they couldn’t afford the tuition. Education choice supporters pulled out all the stops to keep the program afloat. The statewide Catholic diocese started the St. Rita Relief Fund to raise money toward the tuition of scholarship students at their schools. Palmetto Promise Institute posted video interviews of affected families. The state education superintendent asked the court to let the ruling take effect after the current school year. The governor asked the court to reconsider the ruling. The court said no to both requests. Lawmakers, who have the power to call a special session, decided not to, pledging to take up the issue in January.
Rodriguez, a Marine veteran who had served in counter-piracy operations in the Middle East, vowed to find extra work on top of her 45-hour job at the paint store to keep her teenage daughter and first-grade twin sons at the Anglican school where they were thriving.
“I started to really pinch pennies,” said Rodriguez, a single mom who also supports her 65-year-old father as he battles cancer and other health issues. To make things worse, Hurricane Helene tore shingles off her roof. She said insurance wouldn’t cover the damage, leaving her to pay for repairs herself.
After a recent food pantry visit, her daughter asked, “Mom, does this mean we’re poor?”
“It just means we’re hurting right now,” Rodriguez replied. Today’s news, she said, was just what her family needed.
“My daughter will be so happy,” she said.
