This article by Patrick Gleason was originally published in Forbes and quotes Palmetto Promise Senior Fellow Dr. Oran Smith. COLUMBIA, S.C. — 2025 is a big year for tax reform and the work now being done on Capitol Hill to extend the tax relief enacted in 2017 as part of the Tax Cuts And Jobs

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

You’ve probably heard the saying: “Winning the battle but losing the war.” That’s exactly what the South Carolina General Assembly risks doing if it narrows its focus to fixing liquor liability problems while leaving the rest of our broken civil liability system untouched.  Let’s be clear: Liquor liability is a massive and urgent issue. Over

As South Carolina looks to curb overregulation, one major area in need of attention is occupational licensing. South Carolina is ranked 27th in the nation on occupational licensing burden with 159 licenses (You can view the full list of occupational licenses here, on South Carolina’s Department of Labor Licensing & Regulation page).  In recent years,

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

Palmetto Promise President and CEO Wendy Damron is honored to have been featured on the State Policy Network’s Neighbors in the Network podcast this week. Read about her interview and check out the whole episode below! When the South Carolina Supreme Court unexpectedly ruled mid-school year against the state’s Education Scholarship Trust Fund, thousands of low-income students suddenly faced