Reactions to SC Supreme Court ESA Ruling

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 law. We explained our argument back when the case was first filed, and we stand by that analysis and that included within our amicus curie brief. We are glad to see that state leaders are in agreement, and Palmetto Promise is committed to working alongside them to continue the fight for school choice in South Carolina.

Official Statement of Gov. Henry McMaster:

The Supreme Court’s decision may have devastating consequences for thousands of low-income families who relied on these scholarships for their child’s enrollment in school last month. It may also jeopardize the future enrollment of tens of thousands of students in state-funded four-year-old kindergarten programs and state-funded scholarships utilized by students at private colleges and HBCUs. For these reasons, and more, we will request the Court to expeditiously reconsider this decision – so that the children of low-income families may have the opportunity to attend the school that best suits their needs.

Personal Statement of Superintendent Ellen Weaver:

Families cried tears of joy when the scholarship funds became available for their children, and today’s Supreme Court ruling brings those same families tears of devastation. The late timing of the initial filing and subsequent ruling on this case midway through the first quarter of the new school year wreaks havoc on the participating students and their families.

While I respectfully disagree with the holdings of the majority decision, I remain committed to working with the Governor and the General Assembly to find a way forward to support these students and educational freedom for all South Carolina families. These students deserve better, and I will not rest until they get it.

Statement of the South Carolina Department of Education:

The South Carolina Department of Education has halted payments for tuition and fees for nonpublic schools and courses as required by the South Carolina Supreme Court’s order.

The Department will do everything in its power to work with the Governor, General Assembly, and impacted schools to support the low-income families who are the victims of this ruling and will communicate with them regarding options that remain within the Education Scholarship Trust Fund program.

Of note, the Court did not change student eligibility requirements. Also, any allowable expenses — other than tuition and fees to a non-public education service provider — remain eligible for families to purchase. Additionally, the order clearly enjoins only future payments of tuition and fees and does not require the Department to recoup payments made prior to Sept. 11, 2024.

The Department will work closely with parents to assess viable alternatives for their children if continued attendance at their current school is no longer an option, thanks to this lawsuit and subsequent ruling.

Statement of Speaker of the House Murrell Smith:

I am disappointed in the S.C. Supreme Court’s ruling this morning, which I believe was a narrow reading of the Constitution. This ruling will not only strip choice from countless families across our state, hindering educational opportunity from many deserving children, but it also puts in jeopardy current programs that include higher education and preschool that are essential for South Carolinians.

Statement of Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey:

I am disappointed by today’s South Carolina Supreme Court ruling. The legislature made a great effort to study past Court opinions and create the Education Scholarship Trust Fund Program by relying on the guidance contained in those opinions. Today, the Court has changed the rules. In so doing, the Court has not only scrapped the ESTF program for poor children but, by the plain reading of the opinion itself, has placed at risk all sorts of educational programs, from First Steps preschool scholarships to state-funded college scholarships that thousands of South Carolinians have relied on for years.

On a personal note, I find the Court’s historical comparison downright offensive. The sins of the South are well documented. I do not dispute the wrongness with which Clarendon treated the Briggs children and many others. I do not argue that wrongness was limited to Clarendon. You will find no contest to the history of defense of segregationist policies here. They intend to inflict pain and hold down an entire race of people. With a firm understanding of the meaning of the word “evil,” those segregationist policies were evil.

But what does that have to do with the ESTF program? The Court here – a South Carolina Court – has effectively adopted the political Left’s talking points by likening the ESTF program, any choice program really, to the “school choice” programs of the segregation era, designed to avoid court-ordered integration. On the contrary, the ESTF program was intended to ensure educational opportunities for all children by specifically targeting students who, too often, are not offered those opportunities at schools that spend nearly five times per student what the ESTF would provide.

The ESTF was designed for – in fact, is expressly limited to – children in poverty. The only children affected here are several thousand children whose families earn no more than 200% of the federal poverty level, around $62,000 in total income for a family of four. By allowing those children to receive the scholarships and begin the school year, as the Court did earlier this year by declining a temporary injunction, and now declaring that there is “no factual application” where that same practice is permissible, the Court likely requires those poor children to be uprooted from their new schools in the middle of a semester.

That is the impact here: children in poverty will be disrupted and denied the promise of educational opportunity. And the only winners are the defenders of a status quo educational policy whose solution to every problem is to spend more taxpayer dollars, regardless of whether it actually helps the students.

The Court changed the rules, and poor children lose.

Statement of Senator Larry Grooms:

I am greatly disappointed in the SC Supreme Court’s narrow 3-2 decision to overturn most of my Education Scholarship Trust Fund Act. I’m even more disappointed for the children who will no longer receive the educational opportunities their parents so desperately wanted for them.