Senate plan threatens nonprofit group driving SC school choice

The leader of the nonprofit that has raised by far the most money in the state’s fledgling private school-choice program says proposed changes to the law are taking aim at her and threatening the program.

That plan would disqualify the nonprofit’s leader, Olga Lisinska, from running the organization she and her husband have built from the ground up.

The Mount Pleasant-based Palmetto Kids First Scholarship Program has been at the center of the private school-choice program’s success and controversy.

The nonprofit has raised nearly $12 million and distributed grants to more than 1,000 special-needs children to help them pay for private school.

By comparison, the second-most-active group, the Catholic St. Thomas Aquinas scholarship organization, has raised $1.8 million for scholarships for 200 special-needs children.

But the S.C. Department of Revenue is investigating Palmetto Kids after receiving complaints that parents were pressured to donate in exchange for scholarships and state tax credits. The state started offering tax credits in 2014 to encourage donations to nonprofits that help special-needs children pay for private school.

That quid pro quo arrangement – make a donation, get a scholarship and a tax benefit – would make parents ineligible for the tax credit. State law says that donors are not allowed to designate their contribution for a specific child or school.

Palmetto Kids says they make it clear to donors that giving does not mean they will receive a tuition grant.

The Department of Revenue has asked Palmetto Kids for the names of families who received scholarships. The nonprofit has refused and filed a complaint against the tax agency. That matter is pending.

Lisinska says she and her husband, Jeff Davis, are being targeted politically.

Davis, who was working with the nonprofit as a volunteer, already had to distance himself after lawmakers last year changed the school-choice law to ban leaders, staff members or volunteers who have had a recent bankruptcy.

That change came after news that Davis filed for bankruptcy in 2011.

The proposed changes to the law come as lawmakers move to increase oversight of the nonprofits running the state’s private-school choice program, up for reauthorization for a third year.

A Senate panel will take up a proposal next week that would extend that prohibition to the spouse of a person who has declared bankruptcy. That proposal was recommended by revenue officials.

The change, if adopted, would effectively bar Lisinska from participating in raising money for the program.

Sen. Wes Hayes, R-York, who chairs the panel reviewing the proposal next week, said he was unaware that the proposal would ban Lisinska.

Lisinska said if she has to step down, someone likely would take over the nonprofit to keep it going. “We're not going anywhere. The brand has been established.”

This story was originally published March 27, 2015 at 11:08 PM with the headline "Senate plan threatens nonprofit group driving SC school choice."