S.C. court ruling on vouchers will hurt low-income families, Charleston Diocese says

A new South Carolina Supreme Court ruling that strikes down part of the state’s voucher program could put Catholic schools serving low-income students in peril, the Diocese of Charleston said this week.

The contentious 3-2 ruling in Eidson et al. v. South Carolina Department of Education concerned the latest attempt at financial benefits for use by students at private schools in the state, following a similar ruling in Adams v. McMaster in 2020.

Both decisions have the effect that private schools cannot benefit from the use of public funds intended for education, this time under the South Carolina Education Scholarship Trust Fund (ESTF) program.

“Petitioners have demonstrated there is no factual application where it is constitutional for ESTF funds to be used for tuition at private educational institutions,” Associate Justice D. Garrison “Gary” Hill wrote in the majority opinion, joined by Justices Donald W. Beatty and James E. Lockemy.

Chief Justice John W. Kittredge wrote the dissent, arguing that the decision should have rested with the state legislature, which was responsible for the ESTF program. He was joined by Associate Justice John Cannon Few.

The ruling, filed on Sept. 11, comes after extended protest against the Republican-led South Carolina government concerning the ESTF program, which Gov. Henry McMaster signed into law in May 2023.

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit, filed with the state’s high court in October 2023, included a number of parents and their minor children in public schools, as well as the NAACP and the South Carolina Education Association, a union for the state’s public school teachers.

The Diocese of Charleston, which covers the entire state, has long opposed attempts to block public funding for private schools, calling the practice “racist” and “bigoted.” In 2021, as COVID-19 pandemic relief funds began to flow, then-Bishop Robert Guglielmone filed suit against the state concerning its Blaine Amendment, a 19th-century provision often used to prevent African Americans from obtaining funding for private school education.

While that lawsuit was ultimately unsuccessful, the diocese has continued to advocate for unrestricted funding under Haitian-American Bishop Jacques Fabre-Jeune, CS, appointed in 2022. This has included yearly demonstrations by Catholic school students and staff in January during National School Choice Week.

While school choice has had some bipartisan support at the national level, opponents say public education funding should not be divvied up between state-run schools and their private counterparts.

“Our public schools already lack sufficient resources, so it makes no sense to use school vouchers to divide our limited state funds between public schools and unaccountable private schools,” said Candace Eidson of Greenville after filing last fall’s lawsuit.

“Unlike public schools, which serve all students, the private schools that receive voucher funds are allowed to choose which students they will serve and can engage in discrimination that would never be allowed in public schools.” 

Greenville is also home to one of two Black Catholic schools in the Diocese of Charleston, St. Anthony of Padua, which has operated since the early 1950s. Almost all of its students receive tuition assistance from the neighboring Black parish, as well as from the state—a source now in jeopardy due to this week’s legal ruling.

The Diocese of Charleston has noted that only a quarter of this year’s $6,000 in allocated funding per student will be distributed for private education.

“Thousands of children from low-income households who have already received funding for the academic year are now facing great uncertainty,” said Michael F. Acquilano, vice chancellor and chief operating officer for the diocese. 

“We have centuries worth of data and evidentiary support that provide that a solid education is the greatest eliminator of poverty. The ESTF program would have amplified what the Church has done for hundreds of years.”

Gov. McMaster has also spoken out against the ruling, calling it “devastating” for such a decision to be issued just after the start of the academic year, a concern echoed by the Charleston Diocese. He also noted the harmful effects it could have on higher education.

“[The ruling] 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,” McMaster said.

“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.”

South Carolina public schools rank among the worst in the country, and 32% of their students were African American in the 2021-22 school year, higher than the 25% Black population of the state overall. A widespread teacher shortage and low test scores and graduation rates have also plagued the state’s school system, occasioning a marked bump in private school enrollment across demographics.

With vouchers now only allowed for indirect education expenses such as textbooks and tutoring, that enrollment trend could change drastically.

Even so, the South Carolina Department of Education has assured families that already disbursed funds will not have to be returned, and that it will work to recommend “viable alternatives” for families now facing an uncertain educational future.

“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,” said State Education Superintendent Ellen Weaver. 

“These students deserve better, and I will not rest until they get it.”

Nate Tinner-Williams is co-founder and editor of Black Catholic Messenger.

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