In 2025, live-streaming is a fact of life. Churches, political parties, sporting events, legislative bodies, and more are easily accessible online in realtime and for replay after the fact. But school boards across South Carolina still lag behind. That’s a huge problem. South Carolina citizens should have easy online access to watch their elected representatives
This column by Palmetto Promise President & CEO Wendy Damron was originally published in the Daily Signal. South Carolina’s school choice program faced a crushing setback when the state’s Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional after hundreds of students had already started classes at new schools. However, a grassroots response has emerged to help families affected by the
For South Carolina schools and school districts, one of the most important goals is to do well on the SC School Report Card. This state school report card is built to evaluate schools based on their standardized test performance, teacher qualifications, safety, awards, parent involvement, and other factors. The Report Card aims to inspire schools
Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner! You, our readers, have spent the last few weeks participating in a Palmetto Promise March Madness of sorts, choosing each week the policies you believe are most important for the state of South Carolina. And, perhaps unsurprisingly, given its victory in our bracket last year, Education Scholarship Accounts
UPDATE: Since this article was published April 16, the “magic amendment” passed the SC Senate and on May 1 passed the SC House. The bill as amended was signed into law by Governor McMaster in early May 2025. Today, April 16, is a momentous day for the school choice movement in South Carolina. After weeks
“Parents want and deserve the best education for their children. But too many children do not thrive in their assigned, government-run K-12 school… It is the policy of my Administration to support parents in choosing and directing the upbringing and education of their children.” – President Donald Trump, January 29, 2025 The Educational Choice for
On March 20, President Trump signed an executive order calling for removal of cabinet status for the U.S. Department of Education (ED). This announcement has made waves in the media, and lots of disinformation has been going around about just what this order means. So how does the Trump executive order on downgrading the U.S.
We are proud to share that Palmetto Promise Institute’s President & CEO Wendy Damron was appointed by the US Commission on Civil Rights to the advisory committee for the State of South Carolina. Below is the press release from the US Commission on Civil Rights regarding Damron’s appointment: On Friday, March 21, 2025, the
Our friends at EdChoice have recently published the 2025 EdChoice Friedman Index, which measures just how much K-12 education choice there is in each state. The 2025 EdChoice Friedman Index is a comprehensive and easy-to-understand measure of the availability of private K-12 educational choice across the United States. Inspired by Milton and Rose Friedman’s vision of universal
This article by Patrick Gleason originally appeared in Forbes. The South Carolina Supreme Court issued a decision last September to strike down the state’s Education Scholarship Trust Fund (ESTF), upending a new education savings account (ESA)-style program enacted by South Carolina lawmakers the prior year. The ESTF program struck down by the South Carolina Supreme
