South Carolina § 59-8-125 - Funds to create, oversee, and administer program; suspension of accounts; unused funds; termination of scholarships.

§ 59-8-125. Funds to create, oversee, and administer program; suspension of accounts; unused funds; termination of scholarships.

(A) The department shall develop an online electronic system for payment for services authorized by participating parents pursuant to this chapter and the guidelines provided by the department. Parents may not be reimbursed for out-of-pocket expenses.

(B) The trustee shall transfer to the department an amount from the ESTF to cover the costs of overseeing the accounts, administering the program, and the payment of the trustee's fee as provided in this section, up to a limit of five percent. Annually, on or before December thirty-first, the department shall notify the respective Chairmen of the Senate Finance Committee and House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee regarding the amount deducted for administrative costs and an itemization of the costs incurred to administer the program for the previous fiscal year.

(C) The department shall enter into a contract with the trustee to perform the services contemplated by this act. The contract shall include terms of its performance and the fee or the method of calculating the fee that the department will pay to the trustee. The contract's terms and fee structure shall, in the state superintendent's sole discretion, be commercially reasonable. The department shall pay the trustee's fee upon receipt of the invoice from the trustee.

(D) Payments made by the department must remain in force until a parent or scholarship student is proven to have participated in a prohibited activity specified in this chapter, a scholarship student returns to a public school in his resident public school, a scholarship student no longer is an eligible student, or a scholarship student graduates from high school or attains twenty-two years of age, whichever occurs first. A scholarship student who enrolls in his resident public school is considered to have returned to a public school for the purpose of determining the end of the term.

(E) The trustee may suspend or deactivate an account for substantial misuse or the scholarship student leaves the program for any reason, at which time any remaining funds must revert to the ESTF.

(F) Unused funds must be rolled over to the following school year for a scholarship student who applies and continues to meet eligibility requirements to participate in the program.

(G) Only one account may be established for a scholarship student.

HISTORY: 2023 Act No. 8 (S.39), SECTION 1, eff June 3, 2023; 2025 Act No. 11 (S.62), SECTION 4, eff May 7, 2025.

Editor's Note

2023 Act No. 8, SECTION 3, provides as follows:

"SECTION 3. This act takes effect thirty days after approval by the Governor, provided that upon approval of this act by the Governor, the Department of Education shall begin undertaking and executing responsibilities incidental to the implementation of this act so that the provisions of this act may be fully implemented thirty days after approval by the Governor."

2025 Act No. 11, SECTION 16, provides as follows:

"SECTION 16. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor. Current eligible participants may continue receiving benefits under the Education Scholarship Trust Fund, until the end of the 2024-2025 School Year."

Effect of Amendment

2025 Act No. 11, SECTION 4, rewrote the section.