This piece by Adam Whittenberg originally published in The Lion cites Palmetto Promise’s ESTF Family Rescue Fund work. South Carolina is one step closer to restoring school choice after the state House passed a school choice plan Wednesday. By a 79-38 vote, the Republican-controlled House approved a plan to fund private school scholarships from the general budget.
Regulatory review and consolidation have become a hot topic in the South Carolina Statehouse, particularly as they pertain to our state’s small businesses. This is welcome, because, in 2022, South Carolina was home to 463,549 small businesses, accounting for 99.4% of the state’s businesses. One effort to ensure our state’s business climate is friendly for
In 2015, South Carolina’s Office of the State Treasurer released a report on the health of the state employee retirement system entitled “The Pothole that you can’t see.” In this examination of our state’s pension system, the numbers were shocking. According to the report, as of 2015, the state retirement system’s unfunded liability stood at
This week, the House Education & Public Works Committee held a hearing on the bill that would restore school choice in South Carolina following the SC Supreme Court’s decision that left thousands of SC families with their promised scholarships ripped away. S.62 as passed by the South Carolina Senate would reinstate Education Scholarship Accounts (ESAs)
The idea of consolidation, and even closing, of government structures has been a reoccurring topic in the news recently, with the DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency), run by Elon Musk, making headlines daily. Republican-led states, following suit, have turned to self-scrutiny of their own, introducing bills to create state-level “DOGE” commissions. South Carolina is one of
Palmetto Promise’s report Sandlapper Shakedown is cited in this piece originally published in Forbes. South Carolina has been among the most successful states recently in attracting individuals, families, and employers from other states. In fact, last year the Palmetto State’s population grew faster than all 49 other states. State lawmakers in South Carolina and Governor
South Carolina is leading the nation in economic freedom and in resistance to federal government overreach, at least according to two new comprehensive rankings. A brand new report from the State Policy Network’s Center for Practical Federalism ranked South Carolina #4 in the nation on its Federalism Scorecard. This means that South Carolina outshines most
We are grateful to the South Carolina Senate for its recent passage of S.62, a bill by Education Chairman Greg Hembree that aims to restore school choice in South Carolina following the SC Supreme Court’s Eidson decision that left thousands of SC families with their promised scholarships ripped away. The legislation passed after several weeks
Teacher shortages have become a persistent problem for South Carolina’s public schools. But with new bills being proposed every legislative session to address this crisis, it’s hard to keep up with all the proposed changes. At the beginning of the 2024-2025 school session there were 1,043 teacher vacancies compared to the prior year’s 1,613 vacancies. To
