For South Carolina schools and school districts, one of the most important goals is to do well on the SC School Report Card. This state school report card is built to evaluate schools based on their standardized test performance, teacher qualifications, safety, awards, parent involvement, and other factors. The Report Card aims to inspire schools

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner!  You, our readers, have spent the last few weeks participating in a Palmetto Promise March Madness of sorts, choosing each week the policies you believe are most important for the state of South Carolina. And, perhaps unsurprisingly, given its victory in our bracket last year, Education Scholarship Accounts

UPDATE: Since this article was published April 16, the “magic amendment” passed the SC Senate and on May 1 passed the SC House. The bill as amended now goes to Governor McMaster for his signature. Today, April 16, is a momentous day for the school choice movement in South Carolina. After weeks of negotiations between

“Parents want and deserve the best education for their children.  But too many children do not thrive in their assigned, government-run K-12 school…  It is the policy of my Administration to support parents in choosing and directing the upbringing and education of their children.”  – President Donald Trump, January 29, 2025  The Educational Choice for

On March 20, President Trump signed an executive order calling for removal of cabinet status for the U.S. Department of Education (ED). This announcement has made waves in the media, and lots of disinformation has been going around about just what this order means.  So how does the Trump executive order on downgrading the U.S.

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

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