SC watchdog agency approves probe of school voucher program
An independent oversight agency will open an investigation into South Carolina’s Education Scholarship Trust Fund, a taxpayer-funded program that subsidizes the educational expenses of thousands of private school students across the state.
The legislatively-requested probe, approved Thursday by the Legislative Audit Council, will examine the S.C. Department of Education’s implementation of the two-year-old school voucher program, with a special focus on the department’s controversial decision to extend scholarships to home-educated students, or “unbundlers,” as the agency calls them.
A bipartisan group of senators led by Senate Education Committee chair Greg Hembree, R-Horry, requested the investigation last month due to concerns that the department was not faithfully administering the program.
“For members of the General Assembly to effectuate sound policy decisions regarding the (Education Scholarship Trust Fund), we must be confident in the efficacy and validity (of the) program and its administration,” the senators wrote in their audit request, which outlined six specific issues of inquiry related to the department’s administration of the program.
In addition to asking for an investigation of whether the department extended scholarships to unbundlers — “a new class of students not authorized by the act and contrary to the intent of the act” — senators also want to know whether the department actively advised and counseled parents and providers how to circumvent their intended prohibition on homeschool students.
Other topics of inquiry for the Legislative Audit Council include whether the Department of Education met program reporting requirements; whether it consistently applied rules related to program removal; whether it developed sufficient protections against fraud and misuse; and whether it retained, spent and reported administrative fees in accordance with the law.
The Department of Education has denied any wrongdoing.
The agency acknowledges awarding scholarships to unbundlers, who account for nearly 1,200 of the 10,000 students enrolled in the program this year, but said it’s required to do so under the law.
“The South Carolina Department of Education implemented the Education Scholarship Trust Fund (ESTF) exactly as enacted by the General Assembly, following the statute’s plain language and settled principles of South Carolina law,” a department spokeswoman said in an emailed statement.
The statement goes on to say that the department has complied with oversight requirements, submitted required reports, supported the Education Oversight Committee’s review and maintained detailed public documentation of program implementation.
“We remain committed to fidelity to the enacted text, careful stewardship of public funds, and service to South Carolina’s students and families,” the statement reads.
Marcia Lindsay, the Legislative Audit Council’s director of audits, said her agency would pursue all the senators’ requested topics of inquiry and any other pertinent issues auditors discover in the course of their investigation.
The legislative watchdog agency is aiming to wrap up its probe by the end of the year, and will publish its results and recommendations once finished, Lindsay said.
Unbundler pause proceeds in Senate
While awaiting review of the Education Scholarship Trust Fund program, Hembree is also attempting to reform it in real time.
The senator’s proposal to suspend portions of the state voucher law that have been used to award scholarships to home-educated students was adopted Thursday as part of the Senate spending plan.
The temporary measure, which survived a parliamentary challenge by state Sen. Wes Climer, R-York, grandfathers in roughly 1,000 home-educated students who are currently enrolled in the Education Scholarship Trust Fund program, but prohibits the S.C. Department of Education from admitting any additional homeschool students.
The unbundlers who remain in the program will be treated as Option 1 homeschoolers, with the Department of Education assuming the oversight role normally played by a local district.
It remains to be seen whether the House adds the unbundler measure to its budget.
If it doesn’t, the provision would be hashed out in conference committee, where three members of the House and three members of the Senate would decide its fate.
Another one of Hembree’s voucher-related budget directives failed to make it into the Senate spending plan.
That measure, which would have tasked the Education Oversight Committee with collecting voucher student assessment data, was ruled out of order following another parliamentary challenge by Climer.
This story was originally published April 25, 2026 at 9:05 AM.