Yamilette is a single mother and a veteran of the U.S. Marines, who lives in Bluffton, South Carolina.
Yamilette felt her daughter’s original public school was below her expectations, so she used South Carolina’s Education Scholarship Trust Fund (ESTF) program to pay for tuition to send her to a private school. Now, her daughter is succeeding in class and receiving support to pursue higher education. But because of a policy enacted by the South Carolina Department of Education following a South Carolina Supreme Court decision, Yamilette is no longer allowed to use those funds on private school tuition. Her daughter—and sons, who she has now also enrolled in private school—are now at risk of losing access to the education they are benefitting from.
Now, Yamilette has teamed up with IJ to file a lawsuit which seeks reinstate the ESTF to its original intent.
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Educational Choice | Publicly Funded Scholarships
South Carolina ESAs
In 2023, South Carolina created the Education Scholarship Trust Fund (“ESTF”) program. This student aid program grants thousands of qualifying, low-income families a $6,000 scholarship that parents can use for educational expenses for their children—things…