Senate education subcommittee debates lottery-funded education scholarship (SB62); no vote taken

A subcommittee of the South Carolina Senate Education Committee on Senate Bill 62 met to discuss a proposed education scholarship that would use lottery revenues to help families pay for private K–12 schooling. The subcommittee did not take public testimony or vote on the bill at the meeting.

The bill would create an education scholarship fund paid from lottery proceeds that, if fully used, the bill’s fiscal materials estimate could cost up to about $131,000,000 at the statutory maximum enrollment. The proposal sets a maximum enrollment of 15,000 students and ties the scholarship amount to the state’s per-pupil funding level; proponents say the cap and the per-pupil peg set upper limits on the program’s cost.

Why it matters: The proposal raises constitutional and fiscal questions that lawmakers said will determine how the state proceeds. Opponents argued the scholarship would use public money for private education in ways the state constitution has previously restricted; supporters pointed to past court opinions that have drawn a legal distinction for some lottery-funded programs.

Senator from Orangeburg expressed constitutional concerns, saying, “we supposedly live under the constitution of the state of South Carolina, which says that no public funds will be spent for private education. And if there's a desire to change that, let's do the right thing and put it to the…