By admin 
Issue: School vouchers
South Carolina will spend $83 million this year to subsidize the educational expenses of children who do not attend their zoned public schools. The state’s Education Scholarship Trust Fund program, commonly called school vouchers, remains a hot-button issue three years after it became law. The candidates running for state superintendent have divergent views on the issue.
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Ellen Weaver, Republican nominee
Republican state Superintendent Ellen Weaver has been one of the state’s most vocal supporters of private school choice since her days leading the Palmetto Promise Institute.
This past year, she advocated for doubling the size of the Education Scholarship Trust Fund program, which she describes on her campaign website as a “flexible, parent-driven program” that is “bridging the divide between all types of education and putting the needs of students first.”
Lawmakers ultimately capped participation at 15,000 students this school year —the minimum stipulated by law — rather than expanding it to 20,000 students, as Weaver had urged.
The state superintendent’s handling of the voucher program has received considerable attention from lawmakers in the past year, with members of both parties criticizing delays in the collection of usable student performance data and the Department of Education’s decision to grant scholarships to home-educated students.
In March, a bipartisan group of state senators, led by Senate Education Committee Chairman Greg Hembree, R-Horry, asked an independent state oversight agency to audit the program.
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Sylvia Wright, Democratic nominee
Democratic candidate Sylvia Wright, a former public school teacher and administrator, said she believes in school choice, but not in using taxpayer dollars to subsidize private school tuition.
“According to our constitution, the , public funds belong in our public schools,” she told The State earlier this year. “And so that’s what I’ll stand on.”
While Wright said she thinks the state’s voucher law remains legally questionable, she’s grateful it hasn’t been challenged because it’s given the public a chance to see the program for what it is.
“We are watching in real time what happens when we siphon money away from public schools into a system that lacks transparency, reliable data, and strong leadership: chaos, confusion, and no clear evidence of improved outcomes for children,” Wright said in a recent statement.
If elected, she has vowed to “end the diversion of public education dollars to private schools and unregulated vendors.”
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