SC Supreme Court Denies Voucher Appeal

On September 11, the South Carolina Supreme Court voted to strike down the school voucher part of a newly-passed “school choice” law.

Governor Henry McMaster immediately vowed to appeal the decision, and voucher supporters like Superintendent of Education Ellen Weaver and her former “think tank,” Palmetto Promise Institute, called on the Court to delay the effects of the Court’s decision until the end of the school year, claiming that to block the unconstitutional funding for private school tuition would harm children and families.

In a filing reviewed by the State Gazette, Weaver’s lawyers— including, presumably, attorney Miles Coleman, the primary defender of Weaver’s school censorship regulation— wrote, “These children’s school year will be thrown into chaos. But this need not be so.”

But yesterday, in a 3-2 decision, the Court denied the appeal and the request to delay blocking the funds. In a terse decision, the Court wrote, in full: