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In 2025, the SC General Assembly passed S.62 (Act 11), which established the Education Scholarship Trust Fund , an ESA-style program providing education scholarships for students in grades K-12. This action completed the pre-K to college scholarship spectrum for the Palmetto State. (The state already sponsored private college scholarships (Tuition Grants, 1971; 1973) and private pre-K scholarships (First Steps, 1999).)   Unfortunately, in 2026, with the ESTF program up and running, some members of the General Assembly are remembering certain details of S.62 differently

I recently testified before a Senate Education Subcommittee regarding S.692, which would eliminate “Option 4” homeschooling – or, more accurately, “unbundling’ – from the ESTF program.  Below is the transcript of my testimony.  My remarks have been edited for clarity, since they were not delivered from a prepared text. Palmetto Promise has been the evangelist

The slides embedded below tell a brief history of grade floors in South Carolina as well as the origins of our 10-point grading scale. What one State Superintendent once considered against state policy in 2012 was later determined by another to be a district-level decision in 2015.  Our current Uniform Grading Policy is silent on

Palmetto Promise Institute Founding Chairman and longtime REINS Act champion Jim DeMint penned this open letter to the South Carolina legislature calling for them to pass the Small Business Regulatory Freedom Act. Dear Members of the South Carolina Senate, I have long believed that smart, transparent, and accountable regulation is essential to the livelihood of South

Last week, I testified before the South Carolina House Judiciary General Laws Subcommittee on Representative Weston Newton’s H.3857, a bill that would permit home delivery of alcohol.  We wrote about a similar bill during the last legislative session.  The below article, originally published in WIS10, highlights the bill hearing as well as some of my

On February 10, 2026, I was fortunate enough to testify before the House K-12 Subcommittee on South Carolina Representative Pedalino’s H.5073, which would prohibit schools and school districts from adopting grade floor policies and ensure that students’ grades are based purely on their academic performance.  The below article, originally posted in the South Carolina Daily

Many of us take reading for granted. There are many reasons for this. It could be that embracing the joy of reading was something that just “happened” in our lives at a very young age, and we never give it another thought today. All homes are full of books, we all know how to read,

In 2023, South Carolina took a decisive leap in ensuring quality and affordable care for patients through the repeal of the South Carolina CON (Certificate of Need) statute. These laws required government permission slips to start or expand the services of a healthcare business. While the repeal of CON was an important step in the