Shortly after Palmetto Promise Institute was born, we were approached by former state Secretary of Commerce Joe Taylor about weighing in on tax policy. He had seen the ill effects of our broken-down tax system and wanted aggressive reform. With Taylor’s generous support, we released comprehensive studies by pre-eminent South Carolina economist Dr. Rebecca Gunnlauggsson
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
You may remember last year’s Policy Bracketology, where we asked our readers to vote on Palmetto Promise’s biggest policy wins, in celebration of our 11th anniversary as an organization. Now that we have released our 2025-26 legislative priorities in our Palmetto Freedom Agenda, we want to ask you, our readers, to cast your votes for
You’ve probably heard the saying: “Winning the battle but losing the war.” That’s exactly what the South Carolina General Assembly risks doing if it narrows its focus to fixing liquor liability problems while leaving the rest of our broken civil liability system untouched. Let’s be clear: Liquor liability is a massive and urgent issue. Over
As South Carolina looks to curb overregulation, one major area in need of attention is occupational licensing. South Carolina is ranked 27th in the nation on occupational licensing burden with 159 licenses (You can view the full list of occupational licenses here, on South Carolina’s Department of Labor Licensing & Regulation page). In recent years,
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
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DeVos Foundation Donates $250,000 to Palmetto Promise Institute’s ESTF Families Rescue Fund COLUMBIA, SC — The Dick and Betsy DeVos Foundation has made a generous $250,000 donation to the ESTF Families Fund, an initiative launched by Palmetto Promise Institute to assist low-income families impacted by the South Carolina Supreme Court’s decision to
To justify its decision striking down Education Scholarship Trust Fund (ESTF) grants for low- and moderate-income K-12 students in September of last year (2024), the South Carolina Supreme Court presented a Palmetto State history lesson, but it was a perverse one. In the majority’s peculiar characterizations of South Carolina’s past, the words of arch-racist Ben
