COLUMBIA, S.C.—On Tuesday, the South Carolina Supreme Court declined to hear a lawsuit from a group of South Carolina parents and their attorneys from the Institute for Justice (IJ), which asked the court to restore the ability of parents to use the state’s Education Scholarship Trust Fund (ESTF) program for private school tuition. The denial comes less than a week after Gov. Henry McMaster signed a bill into law that itself amends the ESTF program.  

“It is certainly good news that South Carolina remains committed to providing educational choices to families,” said IJ Educational Choice Attorney David Hodges. “However, we were hopeful that the court would hear our case so we could make it clear that the United States Constitution prohibits excluding a person from using a benefit when she exercises a constitutional right. We remain committed to protecting the ESTF program against any future legal attacks.”  

South Carolina’s ESTF program was created in 2023. The program gives thousands of qualifying, low-income families a $6,000 scholarship that parents can use to purchase educational expenses. When the program was created, qualifying expenses included, among other things, tuition and fees at public and private schools, textbooks and curriculum for homeschooling, tutoring, school supplies, therapies, exams, and extracurricular activities, as well as any other educational expense approved by the Department of Education.  

In September 2024, the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled that the ESTF program partially violated the South Carolina Constitution by allowing parents to use scholarships for private school tuition and fees. The South Carolina Department of Education then adopted a policy that prohibited parents from using their children’s scholarships for that purpose. Following the adoption of that policy, Bluffton mother Yamilette Albertson and Moore father Constantine Shulikov, both of whom use the program to send their children to the school of their choosing, teamed up with IJ to argue that the department’s policy violated the United States Constitution by targeting and penalizing private school families. 

“I’m thrilled that my children will be able to use the amended program for their tuition, even though they are still unable to use the scholarships they have now for that purpose,” said Yamilette. “I hope there is not another lawsuit against the program in the future, but if there is, I will do whatever I can to make sure the scholarships stay in place.” 

South Carolina, like 37 other states, has what is called a “Blaine Amendment.” These amendments typically restrict public funds from being used for the “aid” or “benefit” of religious schools. However, South Carolina’s Blaine Amendment goes much further and bans public funds from being spent “for the direct benefit” of any private school, regardless of religion. It is this provision, as interpreted by the South Carolina Supreme Court, that the South Carolina Department of Education used to justify its ban on the use of the ESTF Program to pay for private school tuition and fees.   

IJ’s lawsuit argued that the state’s application of its Blaine Amendment is unconstitutional under two landmark United States Supreme Court cases: Meyer v. Nebraska, which recognized the right of parents to direct the education of their children; and Pierce v. Society of Sisters, which held that this right includes the right to send one’s children to a private school. 

The new South Carolina ESTF bill expanded the program by increasing the size of scholarships to $7,500 and expanding student eligibility. The new bill permits for the scholarships to be spent on private school tuition.