This article by Jillian Schneider was originally published in The Lion. Just weeks after the South Carolina Supreme Court struck down school choice in the state, a conservative billionaire is coming to the rescue, at least through the end of this year. The South Carolina Supreme Court ruled the state’s Education Scholarship Trust Fund (ESTF)

This article by Nick Reynolds originally appeared in the Post and Courier. COLUMBIA — A conservative Pennsylvania billionaire will foot tuition costs for hundreds of private school students after South Carolina’s Supreme Court ruled a new school choice voucher program is unconstitutional. Jeffrey Yass, a political megadonor and longtime school choice advocate, is donating approximately $900,000 to cover

This article was originally published by WSPA. (WSPA) – Palmetto Promise Institue announced that a donor has offered to fund students impacted by the decision of the SC Supreme Court to disallow the usage of Education Scholarship Trust Fund (ESTF) funds only for tuition and fees at private schools. President & CEO Wendy Damron stated

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

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Palmetto Promise Institute Announces ESA Family Rescue Fund for School Choice Families Donor will make ESTF families whole until December 31, 2024 COLUMBIA — Palmetto Promise Institute President & CEO Wendy Damron announced today that a generous donor has stepped forward to offer funding for private school students who were impacted by

On July 2, 2024, Governor McMaster signed S.1046 into law. This legislation reforms the process by which South Carolina selects its state judges. Well, most of them. Our declaration of only partial victory is not meant to take away from the fact that S.1046 was indeed a substantial step in the right direction towards full

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