This article was originally published in SC Daily Gazette.
COLUMBIA — A Pennsylvania billionaire will cover this year’s private tuition costs for South Carolina students who lost their taxpayer-funded scholarships when the state Supreme Court ruled them unconstitutional.
A $900,000 donation from Jeff Yass, the co-founder of a global investment firm, will keep students impacted by last month’s ruling in their private school through at least this semester, the Palmetto Promise Institute announced Thursday.
Roughly 700 students were paying tuition with the state aid when South Carolina’s high court declared the payments violated the state constitution’s ban on public money directly benefiting private education.
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The Sept. 11 ruling came after the first of four, $1,500 installments had already been deposited in parents’ accounts, leaving them scrambling on how to avoid transferring their children mid-year to their local public school. For the program’s inaugural year, only Medicaid-eligible students could participate, making it less likely their parents could pay the private tuition on their own.
“Over the last few weeks, our hearts have been broken by the stories of the low-income families who had settled into new schools that better fit their children only to have their scholarships ripped away in the middle of the school year,” said Wendy Damron, CEO of Palmetto Promise Institute, which has been the state’s leading proponent of school choice legislation since its founding over a decade ago.
The conservative think tank not only helped write and successfully pushed for the law signed last year, but it also spread the word through mailers, social media ads and other marketing to educate parents about it and help them sign up for the program.
So, when the ruling immediately ended parents’ ability to use the money for private tuition, “we felt awful, just awful about it,” Damron told the SC Daily Gazette.
So, she started making phone calls: “I didn’t know if I could raise the money, but I had to try,” she said.
Soon after the ruling, the Catholic diocese for South Carolina began separately raising money to cover tuition for the 195 students in the program who are enrolled in its 32 schools statewide.
Between the diocese’s fundraising and Yass’ donation, this semester’s tuition for all students in the program should be covered, Damron said.
The institute is working with the state Department of Education and the company it contracts with to manage parents’ accounts to pay the schools directly. The money will not go to parents.
The donation is a temporary fix. What happens next semester is unclear.
Passing another school choice law that could survive a legal challenge is a top priority for the Legislature’s GOP leaders. But even if they manage to quickly pass a new law after the session starts in January, another lawsuit is a near-certainty. Whatever happens, it’s unlikely that parents will be able to resume using their state aid for private tuition before the school year ends.
The Palmetto Promise Institute will continue pushing for a new law early in the session, while recognizing “we’ve got to raise another million for January and another million for April,” Damron said.
The ruling only banned private tuition payments. The quarterly allotments of $1,500 — for a yearly total of $6,000 — will continue flowing into parents’ accounts.
And parents can still access their accounts through the online portal to direct payments for other approved expenses, such as tutoring, speech therapy and textbooks. They just can’t use it for tuition. And they can’t access it at all if their children return to their public school.
Patrick Kelly with the Palmetto State Teachers Association applauded Yass’ donation. While he cheered the ruling, the teachers’ advocate has repeatedly said something needed to be done so students didn’t have to transfer mid-year.
“It’s impossible to do anything but celebrate someone donating funds from their own private wealth to benefit the education of a student,” Kelly said, adding that has a “more direct impact than trying to influence policy through campaign donations.”
Asking voters
In Kentucky, one of three states where school choice is on the November ballot, Yass donated $5 million last quarter to a political action committee running ads encouraging voters to approve the measure, the Kentucky Lantern reported this week.
As for a school choice law in South Carolina that can survive a legal challenge, proponents are counting on a new set of justices ruling differently on whatever the Legislature passes next year. And Kelly said that’s not how the legal system should work.
Both the Sept. 11 ruling and justices’ refusal to rehear the case were 3-2 split decisions. Two justices in the majority are retired and won’t preside over a future case. The author of the dissent is now the chief justice, who made clear he believes the scholarship accounts were a constitutional workaround.
“That’s not the way the rule of law is supposed to operate, by shifting justices around,” said Kelly, who teaches advanced high school courses on government and politics. “Don’t do it by changing the judge. The words (of the constitution) are still the same. I cannot support that approach.”
As Justice Gary Hill noted in his majority opinion, Kelly said, the constitutional ban on public money directly benefiting private education could be eliminated through changing the constitution.
South Carolina doesn’t allow voter-led referendums. Only the Legislature can ask voters whether the state constitution should be amended.
“Put it before the voters,” Kelly said.
Last year, the House approved putting a school choice question on next month’s ballot. But the Senate never took up the measure.
If the Legislature approves a similar resolution next year asking voters to change the constitution, the question won’t be on ballots until November 2026. The constitution wouldn’t actually change until 2027 at the earliest, since the Legislature would have to ratify voters’ preference through legislation in the next session.
“It’s unfortunate that we continue to spend time on voucher schemes in South Carolina,” said Sherry East, president of the South Carolina Education Association, which challenged last year’s law and would likely challenge the next one.
“Wealthy people can do what they want with their money, and it’s his prerogative to help fund private schools,” she said of Yass’ donation. “I just wish in South Carolina we could focus on our public institutions. … I wish we’d stop attacking them and work on making them stronger.”
State Superintendent Ellen Weaver called the donation a “vital bridge of continuity for beleaguered” families and reiterated that she’ll work with legislators and Gov. Henry McMaster on restoring the program.
Until that happens, she said, “I pray that even more generous donors will be inspired to stand in the gap for these children.”
“I am profoundly grateful for this enormous gift of hope for students left out in the cold by the Supreme Court majority’s flawed decision,” said Weaver, who led the Palmetto Promise Institute before her 2022 election.
SC Daily Gazette is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. SC Daily Gazette maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Seanna Adcox for questions: info@scdailygazette.com . Follow SC Daily Gazette on Facebook and X .
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