In a nutshell, here's how education or school vouchers work (emphasis, mine.)

Under a voucher program, [public] funds typically spent by a public school district would be allocated to a participating family in the form of a voucher to pay partial or full tuition for their child’s private school, including both religious and non-religious options. There are currently 25 voucher programs in 16 states.

The South Carolina Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that public funds cannot be used for the benefit of private schools. The court ruled 3-2 that portions of the state's Education Scholarship Trust Fund Act are in violation of the South Carolina Constitution.

Court documents filed Wednesday state that the fund, which was signed into law May 5, 2023, consists of public funds and that the disbursement of said funds to private institutions violates Article XI, Section 4 of the South Carolina Constitution.

This reads, “no money shall be paid from public funds nor shall the credit of the State or any of its political subdivisions be used for the direct benefit of any religious or other private educational institution.”

The South Carolina Department of Education and other respondents claimed that the funds were no longer public funds once they were placed in a trust. However, the court has ruled that the Education Scholarship Trust Fund is not actually a trust. 

Instead, in his concurring opinion, Justice Gary Hill compares the fund to a “government budget allocation tool, where public funds are earmarked for specific government spending projects,” saying the fund was a trust in name only, not in function.

Once again, a win for teachers' unions and deteriorating education in public schools (particularly, in this case), and a loss for qualifying families who want the right and ability to make their own school choices.

Here's the story of one such South Carolina family: 

David Warner is afraid to tell his sixth-grade son that he will have to leave his school, teachers, and friends because the state Supreme Court struck down the Palmetto State’s school voucher program.

The Warner family was using an education savings account to send their son to a private, Christian school this year. But after the South Carolina Supreme Court on Wednesday decided on the school choice law that enabled low-income parents to use education savings accounts to send their children to private schools, the Warner family will have to send their son back to a public school in the middle of the first semester of the school year.

Calling the court's ruling a "kick in the stomach," Warner said he dreads telling his son that he has to go back to public school.

I dread that conversation with my son, where I have to tell him, ‘We have to go back, and you’re going to leave all these new friends that you’ve met. I’m going to have to sit down and say, ‘Hey, this isn’t going to work out, and not because of anything else, but that Dad doesn’t have the money to pay for it.’”

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster signed the Education Savings Trust Fund Act into law in March 2023, which allowed 5,000 eligible students to apply for educational scholarships worth $6,000 each. 

Wednesday's court ruling orders that the program cease immediately, meaning students dependent on vouchers for private school tuition might have to change schools in the middle of the first semester of the school year. David Warner's son is one of those students.

Here's what led to the court's ruling:

Six public school parents, along with the South Carolina State Conference of the NAACP and the South Carolina Education Association, a branch of the far-left National Education Association teachers union, filed the lawsuit against the state Department of Education over the school choice program in October 2023.

“Our public schools already lack sufficient resources, so it makes no sense to use school vouchers to divide our limited state funds between public schools and unaccountable private schools,” plaintiff Candace Eidson said in a statement. Eidson is a Greenville County Public Schools mom.

The school voucher program would have primarily benefited low-income families, as eligible families had to have a household income of less than 200% of the 2024-25 federal poverty guideline. For a family of four, the poverty threshold is $31,200.

Warner disagrees with the priorities of Candace Eidson and the other five parents who filed the suit.

This really insinuates that people who are low income don’t have the ability to make the best decision for their own families. The court today basically said if you don’t make enough money, or if you’re lower income, sometimes for reasons that are not your own, then you are essentially not able to make good decisions for your own family.

With respect to Mr. Warner, what the court was actually saying was that the quality of education and freedom of education for families is secondary to declining public education and the influence of teachers unions. 

State Rep. April Cromer, who serves on the state House Education Committee, explained the grim reality.

We are at the bottom of the scale for education. Our kids are failing basic reading and math, and I think [school choice] gives children more opportunities to level the playing field and make sure their needs are being met, and it gives the parents more options, another tool in their tool belt, which I think is important if we are ever going to try and move the ball down the field.

In 2023, WalletHub ranked South Carolina 42nd out of 51 school systems in the country, including that of the District of Columbia. The South Carolina Education Association (SCEA) was unavailable for comment.

ALSO READ: School Choice Isn't Racist. Opposing it Is.

Meanwhile, David Warner has to deliver devastating news to his sixth-grade son, who happily started each school day in his private school with Bible class.