In this short Letter to the Editor, originally published in The Post and Courier, I point out a fundamental truth in the school choice debate – the words we use matter. If we are going to have an honest debate about what school choice should look like in South Carolina, we have to be specific
The South Carolina Department of Education recently released the 2026 School Report Cards. Required to satisfy federal accountability standards, these report cards grade every public school (traditional and charter) on a wide variety of criteria, such as standardized test scores, graduation rate, college and career readiness, and student progress. They also provide families with a
On August 25, 2026, the United States House Committee on Education & Workforce held a hearing on protecting servicemembers in schools, citing concerns where teachers or school board members were discriminated against because they took a leave of absence for military service. Of the three testifiers at this hearing, two were from South Carolina: Chris
The United States Department of Treasury recently released the long-awaited rules for the upcoming federal Education Freedom Tax Credit. This program has the potential to revolutionize school choice funding across the United States by allowing taxpayers to redirect some of their federal tax liability to a scholarship granting organization (SGO) rather than the Internal Revenue
Last Monday, the South Carolina Education Oversight Committee (EOC) released a report titled “Education Scholarship Trust Fund, Year One (School Year 2024-25): A Formative Review of Data Quality and Transparency.” What followed was a barrage of criticisms looking to cast a shadow on the program, much of which lacks context. We want to take a
I recently had the opportunity to join Stephen Biddix from WIS10 to discuss some of the work that South Carolina is doing to address teacher vacancies. To check out the video interview, you can view the original article here. COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) – As South Carolina continues to work through a teacher shortage, one organization
As the school year ramps up and kids settle in to the new school year, many of us are already looking forward to January. With the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill came the creation of the Education Freedom Tax Credit (EFTC) – a program that allows taxpayers to redirect up to $1,700 of
This op-ed originally posted in the National Review was written by Palmetto Promise Institute President Wendy Damron and Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist. ESAs pair well with income-tax elimination, while tax credit scholarships don’t. In addition to being at the forefront of a national movement to drive down, flatten, and even phase out state
School choice opponents commonly claim that “public dollars should go to public schools,” so anyone who wants their child to attend a private school should do so with their own, private money. Although that can be a compelling argument, school choice opponents are actually calling for more taxpayer spending by opposing choice in South Carolina.
In a recent article from Fox News, Arkansas Governor Sarah Sanders claimed that the improvements in education driven by recent reforms positions her state as a “blueprint” for education reforms nationwide. Let’s take a minute to break down Arkansas’ education reforms to test that claim (at least as they compare to South Carolina). Is Arkansas