A photo of the Statehouse in the late 1950s or early 1960s, via U.S. Library of Congress.By Andy Brack | Every year, we implore state lawmakers to make progress on 10 Palmetto Priorities – common-sense initiatives that will make life better for all South Carolinians.
But every year, they devolve into culture wars and conservative talking points rather than looking at the broad view. Still, we’re keeping at it to again suggest that lawmakers look beyond party and culture to attain gains, at a minimum, in these five areas:
EDUCATION: Cut the state’s dropout rate in half by 2030. The best way to do this is to make sure teachers are paid better. To its credit, the legislature has given pay raises to teachers in recent years, but it needs to do more. We encourage the legislature to follow GOP Gov. Henry McMaster’s leadership in his 2024-25 executive budget. He calls for a starting teacher salary of $45,000 – almost one-third more than starting teachers made a few years back. “My goal by 2026 is a minimum starting salary of at least $50,000.” He added that a consolidated funding system supported “a state average student-teacher ratio of 11.4 students per teacher with an average teacher salary including fringe benefits of $79,536.” Lawmakers should note, however, that they also need to increase pay for school support staff.
GUN REFORM: Close the “Charleston loophole.” The whole state has been waiting since the tragic 2015 deaths at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston for legislators to do their job to make reasonable gun reform. They must extend the waiting period for purchasing a gun to at least five days to allow federal examiners more time for background checks. Failure to act over the last eight years is just plain embarrassing. It’s time to get this job done to help reduce gun violence that is killing almost 1,000 South Carolinians a year. Liberal gun laws are one reason why the state has the sixth-highest rate of gun violence in the nation.
POVERTY: Develop a broad-based anti-poverty agenda. Let’s look at budgets in new ways to fund priorities based on reducing endemic poverty in South Carolina, with strategies that include developing more jobs, applying more workforce training, improving education and making health care more accessible. One in five South Carolinians lives in poverty. We can do better by them.
TAX REFORM: Overhaul and stabilize the state’s antiquated tax structure. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if South Carolina modernized its tax structure so sales taxes could go down, use taxes could be broadened and hundreds of millions of dollars of lost taxes due to special-interest sales tax exemptions were eliminated? Lawmakers should stop being scared of broadening the base and lowering rates. That’s fairer for everyone.
POLITICS: One party rule doesn’t foster innovation. We need a rigorous two- or multi-party political system of governance. How do you get that? By abandoning narcissistic gerrymandering and drawing political districts based on fairness, not politics. Anytime the politicians are in charge of the lines, there are shenanigans. And because line-drawing also creates headaches for them, they should appoint an independent state redistricting commission as several states already have to take the politics out of drawing lines. One more thing: It wouldn’t hurt to pass instant-runoff voting to take some of the expense out of elections, too.
There are other priorities, too, that lawmakers should look at:
- Add a cabinet-level post to focus on creating 10,000 small-business jobs per year.
- Ensure affordable and accessible health care that optimizes preventive care.
- Adopt a real state energy policy that requires more renewable sources of energy.
- Cut the prison population in half – and help jails become safer.
- Fix our roads more quickly by investing more in their repair and maintenance.
Our legislators should think broader and act bigger so that next year we will have something to celebrate.
Andy Brack is editor and publisher of Statehouse Report and the Charleston City Paper. Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com.
We Can Do Better, South Carolina!