Time running out for S.C. lawmakers to reach deal on vouchers

COLUMBIA, S.C. - Time is running out this year to reinstate a controversial program that gives South Carolina families taxpayer money to send their kids to private schools.

It comes just months after the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled an earlier version of that program was illegal.

But Republican leaders are confident they can get it done in the next few weeks.

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For weeks, leaders in the House and Senate have been negotiating a compromise on the bill to reinstate South Carolina’s K-12 education scholarship trust fund program – which you may also know as school vouchers.

Democrats uniformly oppose the bill – and now twice in the last two weeks – they’ve been able to delay a vote on it.

With several Republicans absent – and nearly all Democrats quietly leaving one by one from the Senate chamber Thursday during a debate on the controversial bill – there weren’t enough senators to continue to meet.

So they adjourned for the week without finishing their debate.

“It’s been a long week. We were here on Monday. We’re never here on Monday. Monday was a long day. Last night was a long night with the budget, so I knew we were going to be down some people today,” said Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, R-Edgefield.

There are just six days left to get this key Republican priority through the Senate – then through the House of Representatives – and onto the governor’s desk – before the legislative session ends.

“We’ll get this done on Tuesday. It’s probably going to lead to a little bit longer days going forward to try to get some stuff done. But I’m not worried about that. We’ll still be able to get everything done,” Massey said.

Last summer, the South Carolina Supreme Court struck down the previous voucher plan, which funded private school tuition using taxpayer money from the state’s general fund.

Lawmakers have explored other funding options – including lottery revenues.

But they’ve decided this *new plan should be funded however the state legislature chooses from year to year – meaning lottery funds *or the general fund -- again, which is what the court found to be unconstitutional last year.

This time, they plan to create a new “trustee” position – to oversee the money and its distribution – which some ers believe *will make it constitutional this time around.

“We’ve been trying, quite frankly, throughout, senator, to follow the direction of the Supreme Court,” said Sen. Greg Hembree, R-Horry, Education Committee chair.

Any new iteration is all but certain to face another legal challenge.

Democrats say they believe this would *till violate the state constitution’s ban on public dollars directly benefiting private schools.

“To me, this still seems to be you can draw a direct line from the recipients of these dollars all the way back to the General Assembly,” said Sen. Overture Walker, D-Richland.

Some of the other key details that are part of this compromise – include which students would be eligible to participate in the program … and how much the scholarships would be worth.

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