Education Scholarship Trust Fund

This bill lets more students join the Education Scholarship Trust Fund (ESTF), which is a program that gives money for parents to pay for private school, tuition, homeschooling costs, tutoring, or other education costs so their children don’t have to go to a public school. 

This bill:

• Gets rid of the rule that students had to be in a public school the previous year for their parents to be part of the program.

• Gets rid of the rule that a family has to make less than a certain amount of money to be part of the program, starting in the 2027-28 school year.

• Changes how scholarships are paid for, tying the amount to the amount of money the state gets for education.

  • This would take money away from public schools.

• Lifts the amount of students to more than 15,000, letting more families get the money depending on how much money the state has

• Raises the amount of money the South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE) can use for administrative costs from 2% to 7%.

  • South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE): a government office that is in charge of public schools and education in South Carolina.

  • Administrative costs: The money used to run a program, like paying workers, keeping paperwork, and making sure everything follows the rules.

  • Makes SCDE to turn in reports on administrative costs every year.

• Makes the SCDE set up an example policy for when students change school districts.

  • Local school districts need to put in place similar rules, called “transfer policies,” based on SCDE’s examples.

  • Districts have to share their transfer policies online and update them every year.

• Adds new rules for making sure scholarships and money are handled well.

• Makes certain people who work in education get background checks.

  • Background checks: A process to check a person’s history to see if they have done anything illegal before they can work with students.

• Bans hiring people with criminal fraud, tax fraud, or financial crime convictions.

• Gives certain students extra time to apply, such as:

  • Siblings of students in the program

  • Families with at least one parent in the military who are moving to South Carolina.

  • Students in foster care or in the Department of Social Services' care.

    • The Department of Social Services: A government office that helps families and children by providing things like food, healthcare, and protection.

  • Disabled students.

• Money can't be used for other government programs: If the ESTF program wraps up, leftover money has to go to other education needs.

• Expands eligible expenses for scholarship funds to cover:

  • School uniforms (if their school makes them wear one).

  • Consumable materials for coursework.

  • Education experts to help parents do their kid's schooling.

  • Transportation that costs money each time (can use up to $3,000 a year).

  • Costs for going to a different school district.

• Makes parents sign an agreement every year saying they'll only use the money for the things that are allowed.

• Makes students who go to school online show up for in-person wellness checks at their local public school two times a year.

• Makes SCDE track how students in the program are doing at school and how many of them graduate high school.

• Makes people who educate students turn in student test scores to stay in the program.

• Lets students changing schools with a scholarship can start doing school sports right away.

Right now, students in the program get $6,000 a year for education costs that allow them to not go to public school. But if this bill passes, the amount will be based on the last year's money plus any bumps in Money given to schools to help pay for teachers, books, and supplies.

Right now, scholarship payments are sent out every three months. But if this bill passes, scholarship payments will be sent out twice a year: the first payment by July 31 and the second by December 31.

If this bill passes, people who work for online schools or teach online need to do training in on stopping and reporting child abuse 

• Child abuse: When a child is hurt, mistreated, or not taken care of properly, which can be physical, emotional, or neglect, which is where the childs needs are ignored.

If this bill passes, SCDE will do random checks to stop money from being used on the wrong things.

If this bill passes, any more school changes after the first one will follow the usual rules.

If this bill passes, these changes start right away once the governor, the leader of South Carolina, says so.