Guides
South Carolina Education Scholarship Trust Fund guides
These pages cover the South Carolina ESTF itself, how tutoring fits, how ClassWallet payments and renewal deadlines work, and the special education decisions — IEPs, home education, testing, dyslexia — that many ESTF families are navigating at the same time. If you searched for “South Carolina ESA” or a school choice scholarship, the ESTF is that program.
If you are deciding what to read first, start with the complete parent guide. If you already know tutoring is your use case, the tutoring guide and the ClassWallet payments guide are the two pages that matter most.
Updated for the 2026-27 school year · Last reviewed August 26, 2026.
South Carolina ESTF: The Complete Parent Guide
The program in plain English: eligibility, the $7,634 award, covered expenses, application windows, rollover, and how the ESTF became law.
Use Your ESTF for Tutoring
The path from award to sessions: the approved subject list, the provider credential rule, invoices, and Pay Vendor.
How ESTF Payments Work in ClassWallet
Pay Vendor and Marketplace, the seven required invoice items, rejected payments — and why there is no reimbursement path by design.
ESTF Renewal & Application Deadlines
The 2026-27 windows, the 15,000-student cap, quarterly deposit dates, and 2027-28 renewals starting in November 2026.
IEPs, Private School, and the ESTF
What happens to IEP and IDEA rights when an ESTF student leaves the resident public school — the tradeoffs, stated honestly.
Home Education on the ESTF
How educating at home works on the ESTF — and why it is different from Option 1-3 homeschooling, whose members are not eligible.
ESTF Testing Requirements
The annual testing rule, the approved test options by grade band, how to file the score report, and the IEP-based exemption.
Dyslexia and the ESTF
How ESTF funds can support a child with dyslexia — and the honest distinction between reading tutoring and licensed dyslexia therapy.
ESTF vs. Exceptional SC
Two South Carolina programs that fund exceptional-needs students — who qualifies for each, the dollar amounts, and why they can’t stack in the same year.
Find (and Verify) ESTF-Approved Providers
The two places to check — the SCDE’s public list and the listing inside ClassWallet — plus the credential rules and red flags.