Staff reports | Talk about a full calendar. With Tuesday’s pre-filing of more than 440 new bills added to the 298 entered into the hopper last week by the Senate, legislators have more than 740 bills to consider before they even show up to work when the session starts Jan. 8.
This week in the House, just like last week in the Senate, lawmakers pushed reform of the state’s education system as a top priority. In a letter to House Speaker Jay Lucas, Greenville legislators want work in 2019 that will focus on “root problems in finance structure, accountability and equity of opportunity for our rural schools,” according to the Greenville News. Among structural initiatives were calls to simplify the state’s education funding formula, cut bureaucracy, consolidate school districts, provide more options and provide more pay flexibility for school districts.
Another proposal among 65 education bills would end some of the state’s merit-based college scholarships to allow teachers to get free of student debt, The Post and Courier reported. Bills also called for significant increases in teachers’ pay.
Other pre-filed bills included calls to prohibit offshore drilling, reform the state’s tax structure, boost the minimum marriage age and fund work on the state’s beaches.
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