64 | Public Money and Private Schools: When School Choice Vouchers Violate a State Constitution

Can a state, like say, South Carolina, consistent with its state constitution, create a school choice program that allows families to pay for private school tuition from a state-funded education savings account? That's right, today we're doing a completely apolitical case. Just kidding! That would be a nice change, but this is education law; everything is political! So today, we're talking about school choice with the case Eidson v. the South Carolina Department of Education. In 2023, South Carolina created a program to fund education savings accounts (ESAs). Eligible families could then use those accounts to pay for qualifying educational programs or activities, including private school tuition. But the South Carolina constitution says that no public funds can be spent for the direct benefit of private schools. Can you see the potential conflict? We also discuss a recent decision by the Trump administration to abandon its appeal of a Court order pausing some of the administration's anti-DEI efforts, meaning that the efforts remain on hold.---Check out our updated website (⁠www.chalkandgavel.com⁠) to sign up for our newsletter, support the show, find our episode database, and order some NEW MERCH.Don't forget - ⁠Chalk and Gavel was selected to record a live episode at SXSW-EDU in March.⁠ We're pumped about this one. Help us spread the word!Interested in staying up to date on education law as an educator? Check out ELA's new publication, Law and Policy in Schools, available at https://www.educationlaw.org/lapis---Keywords: school funding, school choice, vouchers, education savings accounts, South Carolina, parents' rights, DEI#educationlaw #k12 #podcast #ChalkandGavel #SchoolChoice