Much of the testimony on the South Carolina Transparency and Integrity in Education Act last week was concerned with the teaching of critical race theory and the need for strengthening parent rights. The organizations representing parents (including Parents Advocating for Children’s Education [PACE] and Moms for Liberty) did a phenomenal job speaking to grave concerns

With a Certified Public Accountant now at the helm of Palmetto Promise Institute, it is time to step up our numbers game! So, are you ready for a bit of simple “Education policy math”? To build our equation, consider events this week at the South Carolina Statehouse… If my calculator is right, that means— Again,

Earlier this year, Palmetto Promise Institute published our Palmetto Freedom Agenda, 23 policies to make South Carolina an even better place to live, work, and raise a family. Today I am pleased to deliver to you a “beta” edition of Fiscal Facts 2023: Data to Support the Palmetto Promise Freedom Agenda. This publication is chock-full

Palmetto Promise Institute’s Dr. Oran Smith testified this week before the South Carolina House Medical, Municipal and Military Committee on S.164, the repeal of the Certificate of Need (CON) statute. The following is taken from the testimony prepared for that hearing. The History of Certificate of Need (CON) The National Health Planning and Resource Development

With not one, but two education choice bills moving in South Carolina, it is time for some straight talk about the likelihood of education choice legislation being found unconstitutional if passed by the General Assembly and signed by Governor McMaster. But in order to arrive at an answer to that fundamental question, we must first

Since the onset of COVID-19, movements of parents have sprung up overnight in America. Some have adopted names and launched Facebook pages. Some have incorporated themselves as permanent organizations. Others are (for now) just email trees and group texts.   Whatever their size or level of organization, these “little platoons” (as Edmund Burke admiringly called

In our Palmetto Playbook, we decided to take on fiscal policy more aggressively. After all, what policy area is more crucial to the future of South Carolina than how the state handles its money?  Since then, we have been writing about fiscal responsibility regularly.  Thanks for your positive response! Our Playbook look back at state

Conservative author and commentator William F. Buckley famously said that “a conservative is someone who stands athwart history, yelling ‘Stop!’” He also suggested that there would be consequences for attempting to shovel sand in the gears of the progressive machine. Among those who were thought to be Chicken Littles were conservative financial policy experts who