Homeschool Option in SC Scholarship Program Isn’t a Loophole; It’s a Key Feature

In education, one size does not fit all children — even within a family. Celene Quirino, a mom of three from Richland County, knows this firsthand. Each of her kids has different educational needs, so she was thrilled to learn that South Carolina’s Education Scholarship Trust Fund program could help meet those needs.

But now, a Senate education subcommittee has advanced legislation that would gut the flexibility she was counting on.

Celene’s children started out in their assigned public school, but they picked up language and behavior she didn’t like. A local charter school was even worse. She found a small private school that is a much better environment, and the trust fund is helping it work financially.

The Education Scholarship Trust Fund is an education savings account program. Unlike a voucher that can only be used for private school tuition, an ESA can also be used for expenses such as tutoring, computer hardware, services for kids with special needs and curriculum.

Celene realized that flexibility could be the solution her family needed, because the private school can’t really accommodate her children’s individual needs. With the trust fund, she could take control of their education, providing extra help for her child who struggles, challenging her gifted son and ensuring her third child stays on track.

Families who register as homeschoolers under South Carolina law cannot participate. However, using the trust fund satisfies the state’s compulsory education requirements. The S.C. Department of Education says this means families can participate outside of private schools or traditional homeschooling. The Education Department refers to these families as “unbundlers,” because they piece together their kids’ education instead of receiving all classes in a bundle from a single school.

I don’t believe this is a loophole, as some senators say. Customized learning was openly discussed during the program’s debate and early phase-in, including 2023 House committee testimony and a February 2024 news report alerting parents they could use the scholarships “to create a customized, flexible education for their child.” A May 2024 news release from the Education Department notes, “Through the ESTF program, South Carolina families can customize their child’s education.” And Gov. Henry McMaster’s State of the State addresses in 2024, 2025 and 2026 all described the program as allowing parents to choose “the type of education environment and instruction that best suits their child’s unique needs.”

Some lawmakers say they’re concerned about a lack of accountability with the unbundling option, but participating parents agree to educate their kids in at least English language arts, mathematics, social studies and science, and have them take an approved test each year. Do these lawmakers really think there’s more accountability in public schools? More than 55 percent of the state’s public school students in grades 3–8 are below grade level for math, and about 40 percent are below grade level in reading. Yet parents are required to send their kids to these schools year after year.

The scholarship program helps parents choose better options for their kids — which may mean something beyond a conventional classroom. Eliminating the flexibility in the program would hurt not just Celene and her family but the 1,000 students currently using the program as unbundlers.

“The school system is not always in a child’s best interest,” Celene tells me. “I’m worried about losing this opportunity to help them at home where they won’t be bullied for being behind or considered weird for being ‘too smart.’ With ESTF flexibility, I’ll be able to give them each what they need.”

As Celene’s family illustrates, different children have different needs. A conventional classroom works for many kids. But others get lost in that environment — struggling to keep up, bored and unchallenged or easily distracted. These kids deserve options, which the state’s Education Scholarship Trust Fund was designed to provide.

By enacting this law, South Carolina took a giant leap forward in modernizing education. Why go backward now and limit kids to conventional classrooms? Before cutting the flexibility from the scholarships, lawmakers should look at how innovative education models are flourishing in other states, and how children, parents and teachers are benefiting.

For m any of us, the flexibility isn’t a loophole. It’s the point.