COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina’s Supreme Court has again rejected Gov. Henry McMaster’s plan to spend $32 million in federal coronavirus relief on tuition grants for private schools.
The justices ruled unanimously that the governor's decision to use federal CARES Act money in this way “constitutes the use of public funds for the direct benefit of private educational institutions," in violation of the South Carolina Constitution.
The federal CARES Act money flowed from Congress, with more than $48 million allocated to the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund. McMaster decided that two-thirds of this money should support private schooling.