Injunction sought to prevent $1.5M in public dollars from going to SC Christian group
Lawyers for a group of South Carolina residents challenging the state’s funding of a religious education nonprofit will argue Thursday that the money should be frozen until the legal case is resolved.
The residents sued the state in September over its pledged financial support for Christian Learning Centers of Greenville County, a provider of released time Bible instruction. They’re seeking a preliminary injunction preventing state funds from flowing to the organization.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs argue a $1.5 million budget earmark awarded to Christian Learning Centers violates the state Constitution, which prohibits the public funding of private educational institutions and prevents the General Assembly from passing any law “respecting an establishment of religion.” The nonprofit has announced plans to use the funds to build a charter school for disadvantaged students in Greenville County.
Plaintiffs’ lawyers say the situation mirrors a 2020 case in which the State Supreme Court found Gov. Henry McMaster’s plan to spend federal COVID-19 aid on tuition grants for private schools was unconstitutional.
McMaster, who is named as a defendant in the suit because he signed the budget into law, seeks to have the case dismissed.
Lawyers for McMaster argue the governor is not an appropriate defendant in a suit that challenges the constitutionality of a statute because he has no role in the disbursement of funds appropriated to state agencies.
While the plaintiffs acknowledge McMaster is not involved in the transfer of taxpayer funds, they argue he is a proper party to the suit because he played a key role in facilitating the Christian Learning Centers earmark appropriation.
By requesting that lawmakers provide him information on their earmark requests in the name of transparency, “the Governor inserted himself into the earmark appropriation process and, as a result, has placed himself in a position to help ensure proper accountability for the use of public funds,” they assert.
Regardless of McMaster’s role in the process, the governor’s attorneys assert the state’s funding of Christian Learning Centers is permissible because the religious organization plans to use the money for secular purposes.
“That CLC may be a religious group does not necessarily mean that CLC must be starting a religious school,” they wrote. “Similarly, that CLC has taught religious classes does not mean it must teach only religious classes.”
The other defendants — Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom, Treasurer Curtis Loftis and state Superintendent Molly Spearman — don’t take a position on the constitutionality of the $1.5 million budget earmark, according to court filings.
Former South Carolina Chief Justice Jean Toal will hear the case. It’s not clear whether she’ll rule Thursday on the plaintiffs’ request for a preliminary injunction or McMaster’s motion to dismiss.
Temporary injunctive relief may be granted prior to final judgment if the plaintiffs demonstrate they are likely to succeed at trial and that failure to grant the injunction would cause irreparable harm.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs said they expect to prevail at trial, given the similarities to the 2020 case involving private tuition grants, and claimed that if the state distributed tax dollars to Christian Learning Centers it may have no legal remedy to recover the funds.
As of Monday, the state Department of Education, which is responsible for administering the Christian nonprofit’s earmark funding, had not yet disbursed the money, an agency spokesman said.
Janice Butler, CLC’s director, previously declined to answer questions about her organization’s plan for the charter school and did not respond to The State’s request for comment for this article.
How will Christian nonprofit use the money?
The lawsuit over the Christian Learning Centers earmark may ultimately hinge on how the organization uses the state aid.
The nonprofit’s initial plan, which the General Assembly funded, called for building a residential school where students would receive biblical instruction, according to a proposal submitted to McMaster’s office.
After The State newspaper reported on the constitutional questions surrounding the plan, specifically the constitutional prohibition against taxpayer dollars benefiting private schools, the lawmakers who sponsored the earmark denied any knowledge of the school project. Christian Learning Centers claimed it never planned to build a school.
Butler, CLC’s director, said the organization wanted instead to offer academic tutoring, mental health counseling and spiritual instruction to public school students in a “school-type building.”
“We want to continue serving public school students — or some that would be public school students — get them in a position to do well in school and do well in life,” she said at the time. “And we want to do all of that within state law.”
That plan, however, was also short-lived.
Plans for charter school
In late September, about a week after the lawsuit over the earmark was filed, Christian Learning Centers announced it would use the $1.5 million to build a school after all – a charter school.
Charters are tuition-free public schools that receive government funding but are run independently of the state school system.
The South Carolina Charter Schools Act requires that charters be nonreligious and admit all children eligible to attend public school, subject to space limitations. Exceptions exist for single-gender schools and charters that specialize in serving “educationally disadvantaged” students with demonstrated educational or behavioral health needs.
McMaster’s attorneys argue in their motion to dismiss that the Christian Learning Centers earmark is legal because it will support public education.
“Christian Learning Centers has announced its intention to open a charter school, which is part of ‘the public school system,’” they assert. “Money being used for a charter school therefore cannot possibly be money that is ‘used for the direct benefit of any religious or other private educational institution.’”
The plaintiffs countered in their response to the motion that CLC only announced its plans to use the money to build a public charter school after the budget was approved and ratified and the lawsuit was filed.
This shift in plans stands in contrast to representations the organization made originally about the purpose of the funds sought, on which the General Assembly and governor presumably relied to evaluate its merits, they argued.
It is illegal to spend public dollars for any purpose other than that for which they were specifically appropriated.
Regardless of the organization’s newly-stated plans for the money, the plaintiffs argue that the appropriation is unconstitutional on its face because Christian Learning Centers is a private religious educational institution.
They wrote it was beyond comprehension how the organization, which according to its website, “exists to provide biblical instruction to school-aged children,” could legally operate a charter school.
McMaster’s attorneys cite recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings to defend the state’s appropriation to a religious organization. The high court has found that states cannot deny religious entities a “generally available public benefit,” such as a grant, solely because of their religious leanings.
Plaintiffs argue that earmarks, which are not awarded through a competitive grant process, do not constitute a generally available public benefit.
This story was originally published December 1, 2022 at 5:00 AM.