In the 2023-24 legislative session, Senator and Education Committee Chair Greg Hembree (R-Horry) introduced S.134, a bill that would require South Carolina school boards to livestream their meetings or make them otherwise electronically accessible in real-time.[1] The bill passed the Senate unanimously in early 2023 but unfortunately died in the House, after waiting an entire

The Palmetto Promise team is pleased to announce that we have been named a finalist for a national Communications Excellence award for the work we did spreading the word about South Carolina’s Education Scholarship Accounts! Out of 63 State Policy Network (SPN) affiliates, we were selected as one of three finalists for the Communications Excellence:

Palmetto Promise Institute hosted a successful training event for school board members, candidates, and community leaders on Saturday, June 22, in partnership with the Carolinas Academic Leadership Network. The room was packed with attendees from across the state, all passionate about improving our education system and bringing innovative solutions to the table. Our speakers covered

Now that the General Assembly has adjourned sine die, we are taking a look back at the 23 policies Palmetto Promise proposed in the 2023-24 Palmetto Freedom Agenda at the beginning of the legislative session. Did our Freedom Agenda policies make it into law? Or, at the very least, did they start a conversation that

The General Assembly has a chance to bolster South Carolina’s fledgling ESA program in the 2024 Fiscal Year budget, currently being reviewed in Conference Committee. As you may recall, for the 2024-25 school year, the Education Scholarship Trust Fund program will allocate 5,000 $6,000 scholarships to low and moderate income families across the state to

The 125th South Carolina General Assembly has made quite the impact in our state, from repealing CON to enacting our state’s first education scholarship account (ESA) program. Here at Palmetto Promise, we’ve talked a lot about the ESA bill and the tremendous impact it has for families across the state. More families than ever before

How has SC Superintendent Weaver’s “wait and see” statement on the Biden Administration’s rewrite of Title IX fared in the 38 days since she issued it?

We are proud to share that Palmetto Promise Institute, along with our partners in North and South Carolina, have been awarded the Heritage Foundation’s 2024 Innovation Prize for our work on the Carolinas Academic Leadership Network (CALN). CALN aims to empower school board members throughout the Carolinas by honing their leadership skills in governance, professional development,

Come join us for an exciting event with school choice evangelist Corey DeAngelis as he embarks on the nationwide tour for his brand new book, The Parent Revolution.  WHEN: June 14, 2024 at 1pm (doors open at 12:30) WHERE: 1824 Barnwell Street Columbia, SC 29201 BOOK YOUR TICKET TODAY! This is a must-attend event for

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MAY 15, 2024 COLUMBIA — This spring marked the first year of applications for South Carolina’s brand new Education Scholarship Account (ESA) program, the Education Scholarship Trust Fund. In the short two-month application window from January 15 to March 15, the South Carolina Department of Education received an astounding 7,907 applications for