South Carolina school choice advocates push back after incomplete test results 

School choice advocates are defending South Carolina’s nascent program after it was criticized for incomplete testing data.

The state Department of Education had intended to present data on student test scores from the Education Scholarship Trust Fund’s first year but revealed at a meeting Sept. 21 it was unable to do so.

Of the nearly 3,000 students who participated in the program in 2024-25, about 600 erroneously submitted test results from the wrong year, 800 assessments from K-2 students were not required, and 559 assessments could not be analyzed or were unsuitable for another reason.

Ultimately, only 10% of ESTF students submitted usable test results, “a sample too limited and too unlikely to represent all participants to serve as a reliable basis for conclusions about student outcomes,” concluded the report, which was submitted to the South Carolina Education Oversight Committee.

Although the department plans to publish testing data for ESTF’s second year (2025-26) in December, critics seized the opportunity to criticize the program.

Rep. Neal Collins, R-Easley, a frequent school choice critic, called it “a failure,” and threatened to withhold funding until the testing results are shown.

Sen. Ross Turner, R-Greenville, accused the department of trying to conceal poor results. “The reason you don’t have the data is because the data is not going to look good,” he said. “That’s the only reason.”

However, the department’s Director of Education Choice Meka Childs insisted the issues are simply growing pains for the fledgling program.

“While I understand the desire to have everything immediately, the reality is, it does take time to pull the data in,” she said. “We do have to bear in mind that this is a new program and we are building out those systems.”

The ESTF program had a tumultuous beginning – including lawsuits and legislative revisions – since launching in 2024.

Now, the program is thriving with maxed-out participation.

Education policy experts also say first-year test results aren’t the be-all and end-all when determining educational success.

“In some programs, we see positive effects in the first year,” Martin Lueken, director of EdChoice’s Fiscal Research & Education Center, told Heartlander News.

“In others, like Milwaukee, Indiana and DC, we see negative effects in the first year and then parity (no effect) or positive effects after 3 or 4 years,” he continued.

He then highlighted the fiscal realities: South Carolina provides $7,500 in school choice funds, which is barely more than half the amount spent per public school student.

“Even if there’s no difference between choice students and their public school counterparts, this means that the program gets the same results for a fraction of the public cost to educate students in public schools.”

As the department’s report noted, “no prior-year achievement was collected, so year-over-year learning gains could not be measured.”

Lueken also told Heartlander News that “test scores alone may give an incomplete picture of whether a choice program benefits students. A team of researchers found that test-score effects were generally weak predictors of later attainment effects.”

Research has shown families choose school choice programs for many reasons, including improving academic outcomes.

A summary of 188 studies found school choice has largely positive effects on parent satisfaction, school safety and fiscal management, as well as test scores and educational attainment.

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