COLOMBIA, S.C. (AP) – South Carolina House has approved its own version of Wednesday’s bill that can be spent on parents Taxpayer money Tuition fees for private schools.
After the regular final vote on Thursday, bill I’m back to the state Senate. The Senate can either accept the House version or work on a compromise. The Senate-passed version funds the voucher through state lottery profits, while the House version allocates money from the regular budget.
If the two chambers can resolve the differences, a bigger showdown is upon us. The General Assembly passed a similar bill in 2023, causing the state Supreme Court to collapse. Justice pointed out Their 3-2 decision The state constitution prohibits the use of public funds for the direct benefits of private or religious schools.
The state senator hopes that using lottery tickets will help fund private school funding. The House version will be left in the hands of the state’s education department trustees. Supporters believe they do not violate constitutional limits as they pass through someone’s hands before reaching their parents.
“The trustees somehow stopped magically revealing those public funds,” said Rep. Neil Collins, a Republican Easley, who was one of his party’s five members. I oppose the bill Because he said public money doesn’t have to go to private schools.
“You really have to do mental exercises to think that this public money isn’t public money,” Collins said.
The Capitol voted 79-38 in favour of the bill.
South Carolina is looking to join around 15 other states that will allow public funds to be used for private school tuition fees. Several other states offer tax credits on private school expenses.
Allowing parents to spend public money in private schools in South Carolina was a two-year effort through Republicans’ three governors, four House speakers and five education supervisors in the state that has integrated power and expanded.
The House bill, passed Wednesday, set aside $30 million for what the proposal calls an education scholarship.
A scholarship of up to $6,000 will be offered per grade, and the amount increases as the state increases the amount per student spend. Appropriately, it is limited to families that create less than 300% of federal poverty levels. This means that the cutoff is about $100,000 for a family of four. Money can be spent on tuition, individual forms, or equipment.
Republicans have overthrew proposals for changes to the bill by Democrats that would have called for accepting public registration policies that would accept public money, such as not accepting students with disabilities or not excluding students based on race, religion or sexual orientation.
Another murdered proposal would require transport of poor students who want to go to private schools at least 10 miles (16 kilometers) from their home.
“This isn’t about giving everyone a choice. This bill isn’t about being fair to everyone in the state,” Democrat Rep. Justin Bamberg said. “This bill is about excluding certain people. This bill is about sacrificing everyone else and looking for a small segment of people in this state.”
There is one solution that doesn’t need to strain the state Supreme Court decision. The Republican supermajority at the General Assembly managed to gain two-thirds of support for the proposed constitutional reforms before voters. However, supporters are not sure they can vote for the majority.
Republican Rep. David Martin suggested that creating workarounds instead of fixes is not the right solution, and allowing parents with six figure salaries to make money for private education is not a way to help students in poor families.
“This is nothing but free money for the rich,” Martin said.
Tennessee Voucher access was expanded earlier this month Texas We are considering starting our own program. Shortly after taking office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order instructing federal officials to prioritize using discretionary money. School choice program.
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