Wednesday, September 11, 2024 was a day thousands of parents across South Carolina will never forget: the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled the Education Scholarship Trust Fund—the state’s fledgling ESA program—unconstitutional. Immediately, Palmetto Promise Institute took a stand and set out to share the stories of parents all over the state affected by this unjust
Yesterday evening, the lame duck South Carolina Supreme Court surprised no one with the announcement that they weren’t interested in rehearing Eidson et al. v. South Carolina Department of Education et al., the legal proceeding also known as “the ESTF case” or the “the school choice case” (or, incorrectly, the “school voucher case”). To some,
Imagine if you will, a world where the price of the houses in a neighborhood determines the quality of the education the children in that neighborhood receive. Sound familiar? It should. Unfortunately, this is the real world of education in much of South Carolina. Zip code equals destiny. Zip code school assignments can be a
Our team has been flooded with emails, phone calls, and testimonials from families received who are scared and confused about the implications of the South Carolina Supreme Court’s decision to strike down the state’s fledgling ESA program, the Education Scholarship Trust Fund program. For many, the impact is that these low-income families will no longer
In the wake of the South Carolina Supreme Court’s ruling striking down the state’s Education Scholarship Trust Fund (ESTF) program weeks into the school year, South Carolina’s leaders have strongly spoken out against the decision, one which we believe is faulty and incorrectly decided based on a fundamental misreading of the state constitution and case
This article by Lisa Buie was originally published on the Next Steps Blog. In it, she quotes Palmetto Promise Institute President Wendy Damron. The big story: Nearly 3,000 low-income students and their families now find themselves scrambling for education options a month into the new school year after the South Carolina Supreme Court tossed out
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE SC Supreme Court Finds Education Scholarships Unconstitutional 2,880 students see their scholarships cancelled weeks into the school year COLUMBIA — In a ruling handed down today, the South Carolina Supreme Court found in favor of the plaintiffs in Eidson et al. v. SC Department of Education et al. The 3-2 decision, written
I’ll never forget the first time I laid eyes on Barbara Nielsen. It was a civic club meeting in Columbia in early 1990, a statewide election year. Republican Carroll Campbell was Governor, but a Democrat held every other statewide office. There had never been a Republican State Superintendent of Education. As Barbara was being introduced,
This op-ed by Palmetto Promise Senior Fellow Oran Smith originally appeared in the Post and Courier August 15, 2024, and a version of it appeared on the Carolinas Academic Leadership Network site in July. Oklahoma’s state school Superintendent Scott Walters has made headlines for his new policy requiring the teaching of the Christian Bible and
South Carolina’s public education system is governed by a complex, and often overlapping, set of stakeholders, from the State Superintendent of Education to the State Board of Education, local school districts and their boards, district superintendents, and of course the General Assembly. Each of these parties has some role in how education is governed and
