Many of you may have heard of the Education Scholarship Trust Fund (ESTF) Program through the SC Department of Education and some of you may already be recipients of these funds. I am writing today to provide an update to all families. If you do not meet the income requirements mentioned below, you can disregard this email.
The ESTF program began this current year. Under the current program, any student who transferred from a public school system into a private school and met the income requirements was eligible for a $6,000 scholarship to be used on a variety of educational services that included private school tuition. In September of 2024, the SC Supreme Court deemed the program unconstitutional and private schools were no longer allowed to be recipients of ESTF funds.
Currently, the SC Legislature is in the process of rewriting the bill to restructure the program. The hope is that the decision made in September will be overturned and private schools will be allowed to receive ESTF funds and the new program will be opened to all families who meet the income requirement regardless of what type of school they attended the prior year.
Applications for the 2025 - 2026 school year opened on January 15 and will remain open until March 15, 2025. Currently, to qualify for the 2025 - 2026 school year, the student must:
- Be a resident of South Carolina AND
- Have attended a SC public school during the 2024 - 2025 school year OR will be turning five on or before September 1, 2025, AND
- Have a household income that does not exceed 300% of the federal poverty guidelines OR be a confirmed Medicaid recipient (by individual student). AND
- Not planning to attend a public school in their resident school district for the 2025 - 2026 school year.
As the guidelines are currently written, our current families would not qualify for ESTF funds. However, we have received guidance stating that our families who meet the income requirements below should apply for the scholarship for the 2025 - 2026 school year in the hope that the program will be revised to include all students who meet the income requirements regardless of what school they attended this year. If your family meets the income requirements in the chart below, please complete the application, which can be found here, by March 15, 2025. The application does include the question of what type of school the student attended for the 2024 - 2025 school year. We have been instructed to have you choose “Other.” You can then enter Saint Joseph’s Catholic School. There is no charge to complete this application. There also is no guarantee at this time that any of our families will be eligible for ESTF funds. However, we do not want to miss out on meeting the deadline should the program be revised which we are told is a strong possibility.
It appears that the state is looking for Modified Adjusted Gross Income when determining eligibility. If you have any questions regarding the ESTF program, please let me know. I will continue to provide updates to our families as they are made available to me.
Federal Poverty Guidelines
Persons in Family/Household
|
2024 Federal Poverty Guideline
|
300% of Federal Poverty Guideline
|
1
|
$ 15,060.00
|
$ 45,180.00
|
2
|
$ 20,440.00
|
$ 61,320.00
|
3
|
$ 25,820.00
|
$ 77,460.00
|
4
|
$ 31,200.00
|
$ 93,600.00
|
5
|
$ 36,580.00
|
$ 109,740.00
|
6
|
$ 41,960.00
|
$ 125,880.00
|
7
|
$ 47,340.00
|
$ 142,020.00
|
8
|
$ 52,720.00
|
$ 158,160.00
|
For families/households with more than 8 persons, add $16,140 for each additional person.
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