South Carolina Suspends 1,200 Students From Voucher Program Over Eligibility

The expansion of school voucher programs across multiple states presents a mixed landscape of opportunities and challenges. In Forsyth County, North Carolina, three additional private schools have joined the Opportunity Scholarship program, which no longer restricts vouchers based on family income, broadening access to private education funded by taxpayer dollars. Conversely, South Carolina faces a voucher program crisis after a state audit revealed that about one-third of awarded vouchers went to students who either never left or returned to their public schools, resulting in over 1,000 student accounts being suspended due to eligibility issues and raising concerns about misallocated funds and insufficient oversight. State lawmakers and critics in South Carolina emphasize the need for better verification processes and caution against diverting resources from public schools to private vouchers without ensuring accountability. Meanwhile, in Arkansas, the surge in voucher use has contributed to declining public school enrollment and closures, with significant taxpayer funding diverted to private schools that are not held to the same accountability standards as public schools, prompting concerns about impacts on public education quality and equity. These developments highlight ongoing debates about the balance between expanding school choice and maintaining robust support for public education systems.