NEWS BRIEFS: House budgets $11 more per student for education

By Lindsay Street, Statehouse correspondent  | A draft of the state budget shorts public K-12 students nearly $600 each in a year of a record surplus and revenues.

The House will begin budget deliberations Monday on the state’s $9.6 billion spending plan, which has about $1.8 billion in record increases of revenues. 

The House Ways and Means Committee increased the base student cost from $2,489 in 2019-2020 to $2,500 in the proposed budget, an increase of $16 million. The state formula for base student cost, however, requires $3,164 for it to be fully funded, which would cost $652 million, according to committee staff. 

At an early budget hearing at the Blatt building on the Statehouse grounds in Columbia Wednesday, Hopkins Democratic Rep. Wendy Brawley asked why it’s not fully funded. K-12 education budget subcommittee chair Bill Whitmire, R-Walhalla, responded:

“That’s all the money we had. We had to choose: $3,000 [each] for teachers or the base student cost not being as high.”

The proposed across-the-board, state-funded teacher pay raises will cost $213 million, in addition to regular pay raises for years in a teaching position. 

House Speaker Jay Lucas’ media liaison Nicolette Walters said the budget does more for education beyond  base student cost with $10 million for more school resource officers, $60 million for capital improvements, $76.5 million for instructional materials as common core is phased out, $26 million for school buses, and $53 million for bringing 4K statewide.

Speaker Pro Tempore Tommy Pope, R-York, said the base student cost is calculated through a  formula that needs to be examined and reworked by legislators. The Senate Education Committee has already tasked a panel to look at education formulas. 

With a potential for additional revenues in projections by state budget forecasters, the Senate could increase the base student cost allocation but it is unlikely to meet the full requirements by law, sources say. House Education and Public Works Chair Rita Allison of Lyman said she hoped the Senate will increase it. 

What else is in the budget?

Overall, the total budget is $31.3 billion with $9.3 billion in federal funds, $9.6 billion in state revenues, and $12.4 billion in other funding. Here are some highlights from the House version of the budget, before it hits floor debate Monday:

• A one-time $100 nonrefundable tax credit for taxpayers; Cost: $128 million;
• Addition of $122 million to general fund reserves, $13.6 million to the capital reserve fund, and $50 million for disaster relief, which should have an accompanying bill for resiliency funding that will begin to work its way through the House in the coming weeks;
• The S.C. Department of Transportation is slated to get $77 million for repaving 240 miles of secondary market roads and other projects; Counties would get $500,000 each (total spending of $23 million) to use on their roads. 
• Merit-based pay raises for state employees totaling $42 million, representing increases of 2 percent across the board, but at agencies’ discretion;
• Nearly $40 million in the state absorbing additional health care costs for employees; and,
•  An additional $32 million to boost state pension contributions as the fourth installment of a six-year plan.

South Carolina’s debt represents 0.26 percent of the budget. By constitutional law, the state can have up to 5 percent of its budget as debt. What this means is that the state can afford to borrow low-interest money for big projects.  Perhaps that’s why Ways and Means Chairman Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, floated the possibility of a bond bill at Wednesday’s hearing. 

In other news:

Senate passes education bill, work begins in the House. The S.C. Senate passed a big education omnibus bill 40-4 this week, but now work will begin again in the House, according to Allison. She said the House Education and Public Works Committee  will likely hold hearings and explore the differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill in two weeks — after getting through the budget next week and a furlough the following week. “We still have some work to do before it’s over,” she told Statehouse Report. 

Grimsley unanimously approved to be head of state veterans department. The Senate unanimously approved Wednesday Maj. Gen. William Grimsley of Beaufort as the director of the new state Department of Veteran’s Affairs. 

Justice officials to visit S.C. juvenile prison. Officials with the U.S. Department of Justice will come to Columbia soon to work with state leaders on overhauling South Carolina juvenile prisons after federal agents found constitutional violations at the Broad River facility. Read more. 

Orangeburg senator stalls budget transparency bill. Orangeburg Democratic Sen. Brad Hutto formally objected to a bill that would change Senate rules and require the state budget to disclose a description of each earmark, including costs and which legislator requested the earmark. The objection hits the pause button on the resolution moving forward for now. Read more. 

Fentanyl legislation sees movement in Senate. S.C. Rep. Russell Fry, R-Surfside Beach, has led the House’s opioid epidemic response bills. One of his bills, House Bill 3730, which would create a felony for  trafficking in the powerful opioid fentanyl. It will soon be added to the Senate Judiciary Committee for review. He also has two bills (co-prescription of opioid overdose antidote for some high-risk patients, and regulations on opioid treatment providers) on the House contested calendar. “I’m encouraged there has been some movement,” Fry told Statehouse Report. 

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