NEWS RELEASE Education Leaders Unveil Online School Options Catalogue COLUMBIA, S.C. –South Carolina’s new policy action-engine, Palmetto Policy Forum, completed a statewide media tour today, launching a first-of-its-kind online education resource catalogue designed to equip South Carolina families with information about how to take advantage of the education options currently available in the Palmetto State.

PPF was honored to have an opportunity to bring Dr. Matt Ladner to testify at a recent South Carolina Senate hearing on the scholarship program. Below is his testimony:

Widely regarded as the groundbreaking leader of the Chicago School of monetary economics, Milton Friedman led a long and storied career, receiving the 1976 Nobel Prize for Economic Science, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1988 and the National Medal of Science the same year. But he is beloved because his academic brilliance was employed in the practical service of people. Friedman’s observance of the facts led him to a passionate belief that people truly free to choose their course in life without the heavy hand of undue government interference is the surest way forward to create hope and opportunity – a rising tide of prosperity – for all.

Does education spending equate to student success? Not according to the data. Check out our comparison of Florida and South Carolina and the results each state is getting from their very different habits in education spending.

Compelling statistics below that reinforce why education transformation is so vital to the economic future of our Palmetto State: Reading is not taught beyond 3rd grade, yet 38% of our state’s 4th graders are functionally illiterate and 72% read below grade level. (NAEP 2011) In Charleston County, nearly 20% of 9th graders read at a

Medicaid expansion puts the truly vulnerable at greater risk. Expansion was "paid for" by cutting $716 billion from seniors' Medicare. And in states that have expanded Medicaid, costs are growing faster than revenue, siphoning resources away from education, infrastructure and public safety. It is also driving UP use of emergency rooms as there are proportionally fewer Medicaid providers to go around. Our handy summary lays out 10 key reasons why Medicaid expansion is "fool's gold" - not “free money” - as proponents say.

In short, “No.” President Obama’s push for massive federal spending on a universal pre-kindergarten program generated heated opposition over cost, government overreach and the questionable effectiveness of existing programs like Head Start. But now this debate has landed on our front step. The South Carolina State Senate is scheduled to vote early next week on

“For every problem,” H.L. Mencken wrote, “there is a solution which is simple, clean and wrong.” Enter Obamacare and one of the main ways that it purports to reduce the number of uninsured: putting more people on Medicaid. S.C. legislators are being pressured to do just that. The House has rejected the idea, and Gov. Nikki Haley has vowed to veto it, but it’s not dead. And if they ultimately sign on to the idea, they’ll find they’ve made a costly mistake and created a long-term fiscal problem. Specifically, some in the Legislature want to expand Medicaid eligibility to more adults during the three years the federal government covers the expansion population.

Voters fear rushing into waste, uncertainty and cost. A statewide survey of South Carolina voters commissioned by Palmetto Policy Forum and conducted by Magellan Strategies reveals a divided and doubtful electorate on the issue of expanding Medicaid in South Carolina to include able-bodied adults up to 138% of the Federal Poverty Level. The rush to expand Medicaid under provisions of The Affordable Care Act in the face of waste, fraud and abuse is at the top of voter worries. Key survey findings include...

By Jim Epstein, ReasonTV “Most physicians can’t afford to accept Medicaid” patients, says Dr. Alieta Eck, a primary-care physician based in Piscataway, New Jersey. “If you’re getting paid about $17 per visit, it won’t be long before you can’t pay your staff or pay your rent.” Medicaid is the nation’s health care system for the