Staff reports | The S.C. House approved a $13.8 billion budget for 2023-24 that focused on big pay raises for teachers and state employees. The annual spending plan, generally considered the biggest legislative priority for each year, now goes to the Senate for consideration.
Under the budget, which was adopted Wednesday after sometimes contentious interruptions between right-wing Republicans in the S.C. Freedom Caucus, called for starting salaries for teachers and state employees to go up by $2,500 a year. Raises would help deal with hiring crises in teaching and other jobs, such as law enforcement and corrections.
The House proposal, called a “transformational budget” by House Speaker Murrell Smith, would bump pay by that amount for state employees who earn less than $83,000, while those who earn more could get a 3% raise. The amounts are different to help all deal with the costs of inflation, officials said.
All totaled, the House budget calls for $124 million in annualized raises, which The State newspaper reported was the largest in South Carolina history. Other big ticket highlights in the budget:
- $1.3 billion: Cost of tax incentives to lure Scout Motors to the state. It is expected to employ 4,000 people in Richland County.
- $380 million: Increase in academic college and workforce development scholarships.
- $200 million: Extra money to the state Department of Transportation to accelerate bridge repair work.
- $200 million: Investment in road, water and sewer infrastructure to attract new businesses.
- $261 million: Added funding for boosted teacher pay from above via the state’s aid to classrooms. The spending is expected to boost a starting teacher’s salary to $42,500.
- $196 million: Increase costs to the state’s share of Medicare and Medicaid health care spending due to higher programmatic costs.
- $121 million: Money to counterbalance an insurance premium hike so state employees don’t have to pay more for health insurance.
- $96 million: Cost of a second year of a phased-in income tax cut.
- $84 million: Cost to freeze tuition rates for students at S.C. colleges, universities and technical colleges.
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We Can Do Better, South Carolina!
South Carolina is not being responsible not funding state retirees fund. Will send email to my state representative tomorrow
The money that’s provided to SC Department of Corrections for raises across the board is totally not being used for that across the board. Some have gotten a second and soon to be a third while others haven’t even gotten one raise. It is very not right the already high paid executive staff received theirs first and yet those of us behind the fences that haven’t even received the first one yet to date. What we have gotten is steady lies that it’s coming but yet others have gotten their second when not all staff have gotten a first. Thanks for the State for giving us a bonus across the board. It would be awesome if Governor McMaster would get outside persons to audit the corruption of how the state’s money is being distributed. Better yet send in the Labor Board. Stop in at the Director’s office first. We are steadily working while the ones reaping all these extensive raises are steadily calling out and not coming to work but boasts in the faces of the ones that take pride in what we do. Please investigate this corruption. Take a CLOSE look at how the money allocated for this Agency is being used and distributed. Ask someone other than the Director because he doesn’t know because he doesn’t know because he doesn’t check and follow up like he should, he takes the word of the ones misappropriating the money which also includes his Administrative Assistant making an exceeded amount of pay as well.
I think state employees should be making no less than $50,000 annually. We go above and beyond with no recognition and extremely little pay. We appreciate the current pay raises proposed however, we should be making more.