South Carolina senators press Education Department to explain ESA interpretation that may allow new form of home-based instruction

The South Carolina Senate subcommittee on education spent its session pressing for answers after staff and witnesses said the Department of Education’s interpretation of recent ESTF (education scholarship trust fund) language may have created a new category of home-based instruction eligible for scholarship funds.

Donna Barton, the committee’s research director, told senators the draft amendment now before them would "clarify the original intent of the ESTF bill to allow scholarships to students attending certain educational programs that satisfy the compulsory attendance requirements of current statute as provided in 59-65-10 and to be able to supplement those programs with education enhancements." She also said the bill would clarify that "a parent's signature on the scholarship agreement is not alone sufficient to satisfy the provisions of existing compulsory attendance statutes." (Donna Barton, Research Director)

Barton and senators said their principal concern is a line added during conference committee—language that "enable[s] personalized learning"—which, they said, the department has used to allow parents to assemble a set of courses that in effect become the child’s only provider. Barton said that interpretation has produced "another class" of students who do not fit existing homeschool categories in statute and consequently are not covered by the same accountability and scholarship rules.

Committee members pressed for numbers. Barton said the Department had told a reporter there were roughly 1,000 families using the program under the contested interpretation; senators noted the program cap this year is 10,000 slots, meaning those families represent about 10% of the authorized capacity.

A senator on the committee accused the Department of taking an interpretation that "looks like a deliberate effort to circumvent the law," and asked that agency officials be summoned to explain how they reached the interpretation and whether it was made in good faith. Senators and witnesses agreed the Department was not in the room and that a second meeting would be scheduled so the Department could present implementation details and required data.

Warren Smith of Palmetto Promise traced ESAs’ legal and policy history for the subcommittee, citing Arizona cases that shaped the national debate and South Carolina decisions and statutes (including references to Adams v. McMaster and Edson v. South Carolina Department of Education). Smith said the long list of allowable goods and services in ESA programs had been intended to create a "cafeteria" of supplemental options rather than a substitute, standalone homeschooling option.

Parents who had used the program described its benefits and risks. A parent who identified herself as Meg Williams said the program had allowed her to provide highly individualized supports for children with special needs and to purchase curriculum and therapies (she named Rainbow Resource as a vendor). She described situations in which private assessments or therapies—sometimes costly—were necessary and said the flexibility of ESA-like funding had been important to her family.

The Palmetto State Teachers Association urged lawmakers to adopt clarifying changes and broader fixes. Patrick Kelly (PSTA) said the association supports the bill’s intent to "clean up a recurring source of confusion" and recommended narrowing allowable assessments and improving reporting; he said the Department has not released statutorily required testing data that would help evaluate program outcomes.

The subcommittee did not make a final policy change at the hearing. It concluded by scheduling a follow-up meeting and formally requesting that Department of Education officials appear with data about participation, assessments and implementation choices so senators could determine whether statutory clarification or enforcement is required.

The committee adjourned with plans to reconvene once the Department provides requested information.