‘You can almost call it an education budget’: SC lawmakers OK 21-22 spending plan
Teachers will see a pay raise and students at public colleges and universities will see tuition rates stay the same next school year under a state spending plan headed to the governor.
The House and Senate on Monday approved a roughly $10.8 billion spending plan that budget writers agreed to last week in a conference committee.
The budget includes investments in education throughout the state, including expanding South Carolina’s needs-based 4K program and money to allow for tuition freezes for higher education. Budget writers also included $93 million for new instructional materials for schools.
Lawmakers included $100 million for financially disadvantaged schools, including $85 million for building improvements and $15 million to help with consolidation costs.
Pre-kindergarten access in the state also will grow under this spending plan as budget writers added $33.9 million for the program for 4-year-olds. This allows for every school district in the state to have a needs-based 4K program. Before the upcoming school year, 21 of the state’s 81 school districts still did not have a 4K program, including Richland 2, Greenville, Horry County, Beaufort, Charleston, York 2, York 3 and York 4, Lexington 2 and Lexington-Richland 5.
“The funding provided in this year’s state budget will expand the current offerings statewide to ensure that all at-risk students have the opportunity to receive a high quality early childhood education,” state Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman said.
Lawmakers also approved a $1,000 raise for teachers including increasing the minimum salary to $36,000 from $35,000. The pay bump is on top of the annual increase teachers receive based on years of experience and education level.
Last year, efforts to give teachers pay raises were put on hold because of the pandemic. Lawmakers adopted a continuing resolution to keep spending levels the same. Ultimately the economy rebounded and lawmakers eventually gave teachers their annual step increases in lump sum payments, which were due this month.
Increasing teacher salaries has been a priority in recent years in order to be more competitive and encourage educators to stay in the state.
School bus drivers also are in line to receive 5% raises as well, and the proposed budget also ensures each school will have a nurse and resource officer.
“If you look at this budget, you can almost call it an education budget for all the things we did for education this year, “ said state Sen. Hugh Leatherman, R-Florence, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee.
Lawmakers also put in more than $260 million for maintenance and renovations at universities and technical colleges.
College students also shouldn’t see their tuition costs increase. Budget writers included more than $48 million in additional money to the state’s public colleges, universities and technical colleges for tuition mitigation to help schools keep tuition the same.
“We got a commitment from every school they would hold the line on tuition increases,” said state Rep. Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee.
Other budget highlights
Law enforcement also will see retention raises including employees at the Department of Juvenile Justice, which is slated to receive $4.5 million. The department has been under fire recently after a scathing audit report and after employees walked off the job complaining about working conditions and pay.
All of the state employees are slated to receive across-the-board 2.5% pay raises.
As the state’s economy recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic, budget writers included $20 million for tourism advertising to help an industry that took a huge hit last year as traveling came to a standstill.
Lawmakers included $200 million to help the Port of Charleston get started on its $550 million intermodal facility project to expand barge and rail access for shipping containers going in and out of the port. This will allow the state to avoid borrowing the money for the project. Additional money may be allocated in the future from other sources.
Lawmakers also included $8.3 million for road improvements and environmental mitigation efforts to move the Gallo Winery project forward. The Department of Commerce initially asked the state to borrow that money before lawmakers were able to fit the project cost into the spending plan for the fiscal year that begins July. 1.
This story was originally published June 21, 2021 at 3:46 PM with the headline "‘You can almost call it an education budget’: SC lawmakers OK 21-22 spending plan."
