NEWS BRIEFS: Legislature abuzz over private voucher effort by governor

Staff reports  |  The legislature is abuzz over Gov. Henry McMaster’s move a week ago to allocate $32 million in pandemic relief funds for tuition grants to private schools. 

By Wednesday, state Circuit Court Judge Edgar W. Dickson in Orangeburg County issued a temporary block on the plan in response to a lawsuit that said McMaster’s move violated the state’s constitution, which  prevents public dollars from directly benefiting private educational institutions. 

The one-time program sought to cover about 5,000 grants of up to $6,500 for students to attend private schools in the coming academic year and to help parents who might not be able to afford the expense otherwise. The money is part of the governor’s $48 million discretionary fund awarded through the federal coronavirus relief package. 

Ahead of the private school tuition move, McMaster allocated $2.4 million of the funds on July 9 toward Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the state. Six of eight of those colleges are private. The move went unchallenged. 

Also in the news:

Animal Society calls for action on carriage horses.  Following the July 20 euthanization of a carriage horse after an accident the day before, the Charleston Animal Society renewed its call for a study on working conditions for the horses.  “The video and photos show a bleeding and terrified horse,” Animal Society CEO and President Joe Elmore said in a statement.  “This must not be ignored and we urge the city of Charleston to conduct a full investigation. These images raise more questions about the enterprise of using horses in an urban environment. Using horses in an urban environment continues to be controversial. Charleston Animal Society has never called for a ban, rather a peer-reviewed, prospective, scientific study to inform community leaders of the working conditions of these animals. The carriage industry and its supporters have fought this reasonable compromise from the outset.”

Big mask donation.  InFocus Healthcare Consultants last week donated 250,000 KN95 masks to the city of Charleston, Charleston County Medical Society and Seacoast Church to be distributed to local frontline workers and first responders.  Attending a press conference to accept the donation were Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg, MUSC epidemiologist Dr. Robert Ball, Medical Society Administrator Dana Holladay and Seacoast Church Lead Pastor Josh Surratt.

New care location.  Doctors Care P.A., the state’s largest urgent care company, last week opened its newest location in West Ashley at 1014 St. Andrews Boulevard.  It replaces an outdated facility that was about two miles away.  The company now has 10 locations in the Charleston area. The new West Ashley office has more than 6,000 square feet with six exam rooms and space for triage, trauma care, labs and X-rays.  It’s open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends.  More.

Half of state’s renters at risk for eviction.  Advocates for low-income South Carolinians fear hundreds of thousands of them could lose housing in the coming months thanks to a piling on of circumstances, Statehouse Report published. The state has seen a rise in evictions and homelessness since March, homeless advocates say.  Things worsened  after May when a state Supreme Court moratorium on court eviction filings was lifted. Now there’s a new double-whammy:  First, federal aid of $600 per week in unemployment insurance expires this week; and second, a federal moratorium on federally-backed rental properties was just lifted.  Read more.

Statehouse Report’s Lindsay Street contributed to this section. Have a comment?  Send to:  editor@charlestoncurrents.com