Latest news with #PalmettoPromiseInstitute
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
SC Bill would require every school board meeting to be recorded and posted
Columbia S.C. (WSPA) – In Columbia, lawmakers are making headway on a bill that would make school board meetings more accessible to the public. Supporters said this will increase transparency. The bi-partisan bill would require all South Carolina public and charter schools to record their school board meetings and post the videos within two business days of the event. 'They should always be doing it, and we need concrete requirements for live streaming spelled out so that parents and constituents can go back and watch meetings after the fact,' said Felicity Ropp, with the Palmetto Promise Institute. The bill would have the state board of education create a model policy and each school district would have to adopt a similar one. The model will then need to be approved by the district's superintendent and the state board of education. The recording cannot impact the public's request for in-person attendance. 'This meeting isn't being live streamed. Why not? Because it's not required. So that makes it difficult for somebody like me who's in the community,' said Debbie Heim, Lexington County resident. The bill was passed in the senate unanimously and will be debated on the house floor the committee meeting last week, Ropp testified the bill should not include an added cost. 'As long as you have a camera on your cell phone, you should be good to go. In 2025, it's not a huge ask for school districts, and it should be common sense,' Ropp said. Heim added it's crucial for lawmakers to record every meeting for South Carolinians, and it should be the same for schools. 'The purpose of FOIA is to prevent secret government activity and asking school districts not to stream their meetings or not making a requirement that all meetings subject to FOIA,' said Hopp. If schools do not follow the policy, penalties could include taking away one percent of their state passed, the one exception is a lawful executive school board session. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Forbes
18-04-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Major Income Tax Cuts Enacted And Advanced In Slew Of GOP-Run States
Kansas state capitol in Topeka Lawmakers in multiple states have passed significant income tax rate cuts in recent weeks. Mississippi lawmakers and Governor Tate Reeves (R) enacted legislation in March that will phase out the Magnolia State's 4% income tax over time based on revenue triggers. Shortly thereafter, Kansas lawmakers followed suit by overriding a gubernatorial veto to enact income tax relief that moves the state tax code to a lower, flat rate. Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson (R) and Speaker Dan Hawkins (R) led the charge for Senate Bill 269, legislation enacted this week that will move Kansas from a progressive income tax code with a top rate of 5.58% to a 4% single rate income tax. Kansas lawmakers passed this income tax cut at the end of March and Governor Laura Kelly (D) vetoed it on April 10. On April 15, Kansas lawmakers enacted SB 269 by voting to override Governor Kelly's veto. SB 269 includes a revenue trigger resulting permanent rate cuts whenever a stipulated level of revenue collection is exceeded. Under 269, all surplus revenue collections exceeding growth in regional CPI inflation will be returned to taxpayers in the form of permanent income tax cuts until the rate falls to 4%. The tax reform package championed by Masterson and Hawkins also cuts the state corporate tax rate to 4% based on revenue triggers. Many in South Carolina hope their state is the next to enact rate-reducing income tax reform. Speaker Murrell Smith (R) and his colleagues introduced legislation in March to move the state from a progressive income tax with a top rate of 6.2%, to a flat 3.99% income tax. An economic impact study recently released by the Palmetto Promise Institute and the Buckeye Institute concluded that moving to a lower, flatter rate would come with many benefits for South Carolina residents and the state's economy. 'Broadening the base and moving to a flat rate of 3.99% will result in South Carolina's economy adding 1,000 jobs in 2026 and an average of 1,000 additional jobs each year between 2027 and 2030,' noted Oran Smith, senior fellow at the Palmetto Promise Institute. 'South Carolina's GDP will grow by $240 million in 2026 and average $250 million over the next 5 years, if the tax rate stays at 3.99%. Families will buy more because, they will have more money to purchase goods, and save and invest over $100 million annually each year over the next five years. 'Dynamic economic modeling, which considers how people and businesses respond to policy changes, shows that this tax plan will make South Carolina a more prosperous state and poised to compete with neighboring states that have already enacted tax policy reform over the past few years,' Smith added. 'The scenario below models collapsing all current personal income tax brackets in South Carolina into a single bracket with a flat rate of 3.99%. Table I below presents the dynamic effects of this scenario. Under this scenario, South Carolina's economic output (GDP) would increase by $240 million (2024 dollars) in 2026, with investment increasing by $110 million and consumer spending increasing by $70 million in the same year. Ultimately, the number of jobs for 2026 would be expected to increase by 1,000.' At the March 18 press conference announcing the Speaker's tax reform proposal, Governor Henry McMaster (R) and South Carolina Senate leaders announced that they, like Speaker Smith and his colleagues, see income tax rate reduction as a top priority to pass before adjourning session in May. The South Carolina House Ways & Means Committee will hold a hearing next week to take up the Speaker's tax reform bill and consider amendments. If they're successful, South Carolina will soon have a lower rate than neighboring Georgia and will be on more competitive footing relative to North Carolina. Underscoring the heightened level of state tax competition, North Carolina lawmakers took action this week to increase their fiscal policy advantage over South Carolina, Georgia, and other states. The North Carolina Senate passed a new budget on April 17 that would take the state's 4.25% flat income tax down to 1.99%, provided certain revenue triggers are met. Under current law, North Carolina's income tax rate will fall to 3.99% and possibly as low as 2.49% so long as revenue triggers are met. Like their counterparts in North Carolina, the Oklahoma Senate approved income tax relief this week. On April 14, the Oklahoma Senate passed House Bill 1539, legislation that phases out the state income tax entirely over time based on revenue triggers being met. Oklahoma currently has a progressive income tax with a top rate of 4.5%. If the Oklahoma House votes to concur with the changes made by the state senate, the bill will go to Governor Kevin Stitt (R) for his signature. Governor Stitt has long been a champion of phasing out Oklahoma's income tax. 'There are nine states with no state penalty on work,' said Oklahoma Sen. Micheal Bergstrom (R-Adair). 'Consistently, they're experiencing better growth and opportunity, and this is not a surprise. When you don't penalize work and job creation in the form of state income taxes, your citizens are better positioned to pursue opportunity for themselves and to expand opportunity for others.' National media outlets have published multiple articles in recent days and weeks alleging that Republican members of Congress are warming up to the prospect of allowing the top marginal federal income tax rate to go up for filers whose income exceeds some amount. On April 17, however, Kimberley Strassel reported in the Wall Street Journal that the push to raise the top marginal income tax rate is being led by certain White House staffers, which Larry Kudlow has also reported. While some advisers may be trying to convince the President to break a well documented campaign promise by raising the top federal income tax rate, Republican state lawmakers across the country are going in the other direction, taking action to reduce top rates, move to flatter income tax codes, and ultimately end state taxation of household earnings.
Yahoo
28-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Donations will cover third-quarter costs for SC K-12 students using vouchers
(File/Getty Images) COLUMBIA — Donations will fully cover third-quarter private school tuition payments for South Carolina K-12 students initially relying on taxpayer-funded scholarships, South Carolina's main advocacy group for school choice announced this week. The announcement that no student faces being imminently forced to change schools for lack of payment came as senators continued debating a GOP proposal to reinstate the scholarships. Republicans have said it's a priority because the students' parents are in limbo. The additional $700,000 collected in December will cover tuition for the third quarter and part of the fourth quarter for all students impacted by last September's state Supreme Court ruling that halted public scholarships for private tuition, according to the Palmetto Promise Institute. The conservative think tank received the $700,000 collectively from two national nonprofits and an anonymous donor, bringing the total it's raised since the court ruling to $2.2 million. That is covering tuition for about 600 students. The state's Catholic diocese separately raised money to cover 195 students in the program enrolled in its 32 schools. Keeping every student enrolled for the remainder of the school year will likely cost an additional $800,000. The institute's leaders are hopeful they can raise that in time to cover all students' fourth quarter tuition payments. 'We have until the end of April to get the rest of the money,' Wendy Damron, the group's president, told the SC Daily Gazette. Bill to restart SC vouchers for private school tuition is on the fast track The think tank, which has fought for private school choice since its founding, has so far been able to pay tuition for every student enrolled in the program last year under a 2023 law partially thrown out a month into the school year. The state Supreme Court ruled the private tuition payments violated the state constitution's ban on public dollars directly benefiting private education. The legislation being debated on the Senate floor as Republicans' first priority of the year is geared to restart and expand eligibility for the private school scholarships. Previous donations have come from wealthy philanthropists. This time, $100,000 each came from the Children's Scholarship Fund, which pays for students to attend private schools, and the JM Foundation, a philanthropic nonprofit founded by investor Jeremiah Milbank. The group has also received about $100,000 in smaller donations, according to a news release. Because income criteria for the program's first year was limited to Medicaid-eligible students, their families likely couldn't afford to pay tuition on their own. If donations are not enough to cover every student for the fourth quarter of the school year, the Palmetto Promise Institute will decide who gets the money based on schools with the highest concentration of students relying on the funds, Damron said. Schools with fewer students relying on the scholarship would likely have an easier time finding the money in their budgets or raising their own funds to support their tuition, while schools with a lot of scholarship students might be relying on the money to operate, Damron said. 'These schools really do care about the kids and want to keep them there,' she said. The money raised was also enough to cover first-quarter tuition for 85 students whose families had not yet used the $1,500 transferred to parents' account ahead of the high court's decision, according to the Palmetto Promise Institute. While the court did not require families to pay back money used, it did stop the payments. The Catholic diocese covered another 34 students whose parents hadn't made a first-quarter tuition payment before the ruling, according to numbers provided by the group. SC businessman's donation will help pay private K-12 tuitions for SC students using vouchers That means just over 800 students were using the money to pay for private school, out of the 2,880 enrolled in the program. The state Department of Education said in a court filing that parents of 'nearly 700' students had made a payment to a private school during the beginning weeks of the school year. The department has yet to publicly release numbers on how enrolled students have used the taxpayer money. It remains unknown, for example, how many were using the money to pay fees to transfer to another public school district. Other allowed expenses under the law include textbooks, tutoring, and computers. Debate in the Senate continues Wednesday on a bill that would pull money from the state's lottery fund instead of the general fund to avoid the constitutional ban. It would also increase the scholarship amount from a set $6,000 annually to whatever the state sends to public schools on a per-pupil average, which would be roughly $8,500 next school year. By 2027, the bill would increase income eligibility to 600% of the federal poverty level — enabling the vast majority of students to be eligible. The program would be capped at 15,000 students.
