Latest news with #ShannonErickson
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
New House committee will study how to modernize South Carolina's transportation agency
COLUMBIA, S.C. (WCBD) — A new ad hoc committee has been formed in the South Carolina House to examine how the state's transportation agency could be modernized to better serve the growing population. South Carolina's consistent ranking as one of the fastest-growing states in the nation, coupled with aging infrastructure, has put a strain on roads and bridges across the state. Now, a committee led by Rep. Shannon Erickson (R-Beaufort) and Rep. Heather Crawford (R-Horry) will be tasked with examining ways to improve efficiency and streamline operations at the South Carolina Department of Transportation. 'As South Carolina continues to grow, it is critical that our infrastructure keeps pace,' said House Speaker Murrell Smith (R-Sumter). 'This committee will take a comprehensive look at how SCDOT can better serve the needs of our citizens—today and in the future. From innovation and technology to organizational structure and long-term planning, no idea is off the table.' New law bans kratom sales to minors in South Carolina The committee is expected to solicit feedback on the state's transportation infrastructure during a series of public hearings starting this summer, which officials said will be used to drive policy recommendations. 'South Carolinians deserve a transportation system that works as hard as they do,' said Erickson. 'This committee will begin by listening to our communities with the aim of delivering solutions that modernize SCDOT and make a meaningful difference in the daily lives of our citizens.' A primary focus will be placed on how to update SCDOT's permitting process, speed up timelines for project funding and completion, and expand road capacity to help alleviate congestion. 'We're at a pivotal moment for South Carolina's infrastructure,' said Crawford. 'By engaging the public and working closely with local and state partners, this committee will help drive reforms that lead to faster project completion, better service, and a stronger foundation for future growth.' The rest of the committee members have not yet been announced, but the Speaker's office said they would be a 'bipartisan and geographically diverse group' of state representatives. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
K-12 education voucher bill headed to SC governor's desk
Rep. Shannon Erickson, R-Beaufort, on March 4, 2025. A compromise Erickson made with the Senate on K-12 private school scholarships passed the House on Thursday, May 1, 2025. (Photo by Jessica Holdman/SC Daily Gazette) COLUMBIA — A bill that would allow up to 15,000 K-12 students in South Carolina to receive $7,500 scholarships next year for private tuition headed to the governor's desk Thursday after the House agreed to a compromise with the Senate. Opponents of the bill in the Senate proposed a number of changes, none of which passed. Democrats in the House put up a final stand Thursday, even while acknowledging they didn't have the votes to actually stop the bill. This proved to be the case: The House sent the compromise to the governor's desk with a vote of 73-32. No Democrats voted for it. Three Republicans voted against it. SC House and Senate reach compromise on K-12 vouchers Gov. Henry McMaster is expected to quickly sign the bill into law. The issue was a top priority for Republican leadership after the state Supreme Court struck down private tuition payments last September as unconstitutional. Private donors have been paying tuition for roughly 800 students since then. In the coming school year, the bill would provide scholarships to up to 10,000 students whose families make up to 300% of the federal poverty level. Eligibility would increase in 2026-2027 to 15,000 students living in households with incomes up to 500% of the federal poverty level. For a family of four, that would be nearly $161,000 under 2025 guidelines. Students who are in public school and whose families make less than 300% of the federal poverty level would get priority in receiving the scholarships through early application windows. While the compromise doesn't create universal school choice like the version the House passed, it does leave the door open for legislators to put more money into the program if more than 15,000 students apply. 'Providing parents with more options for educating their children is in the best interest of our students, parents and the state of South Carolina,' said House Education Chairwoman Shannon Erickson, R-Beaufort. Ultimately, the state Supreme Court will decide if the law takes effect. The bill is almost certain to bring another legal challenge. In a statement soon after the bill passed, the South Carolina Education Association called the bill unconstitutional. The teachers' advocacy group filed the last lawsuit that led to last fall's ruling. 'Diverting these funds from the many for the benefit of a few, by whatever means, undermines our public schools and threatens the quality of education that is vital for all South Carolinians,' the statement read. 'Our children deserve better.' Supporters of the bill are hopeful that drawing from a different revenue source or sending the money through a trustee hired by the state superintendent will make this version constitutional. That combines ideas from the House, which instituted the idea of a trustee, and the Senate, which wanted to pull from state lottery revenue. The final compromise leaves it for legislators to decide whether to take the money from lottery profits or the state's general fund. 'We listened, we learned, we took both sides of the (Supreme Court) opinion, and we sat down and wrote what we thought was the best solution,' Erickson said. Opponents weren't convinced. Regardless of the specific source, the money is still public, said Rep. Kambrell Garvin. The state constitution bars public money from directly benefitting private schools. 'It's a bad idea because it is clearly unconstitutional,' the Columbia Democrat said. Lottery profits are primarily used to pay for scholarships to colleges — both public and private. High school graduates earning the academic-based scholarships can use them at the South Carolina college of their choice. Supporters in the Senate argued scholarships for private K-12 schools should be legal too. Garvin, who spent three years as a school teacher, questioned whether using lottery profits for K-12 scholarships could reduce funding available for college scholarships. That would require legislators to dip into the general fund to provide all the scholarships they qualify for by law. 'I think what will happen is that we're going to bite off more than we can chew,' Garvin said. Democrats saw the bill as a step toward universal school choice, which would allow every student in the state to access the money, regardless of income level. The 500% poverty level already incorporates most families in South Carolina, including parents already paying for private schools, House Democrats said. Garvin also pointed to what opponents say is a lack of accountability over the program. Private schools don't have the same oversight as public schools, meaning the state will have little control over the quality of education students receive once they use the money, he said. That could lead to any number of issues for students, he said. 'We are opening Pandora's Box,' Garvin said.
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
SC resolution would forgive Helene make-up days. Only one district needs it.
Hurricane Helene snapped utility poles and downed lines across South Carolina on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, particularly in the Upstate and along the Georgia border. (Paul Hyde/Special to the SC Daily Gazette) COLUMBIA — A school district that missed days because of Hurricane Helene could avoid making them up under a resolution proposed in the state House. The storm forced schools along the Georgia border and in the Upstate to close for upwards of a week in many cases. With hundreds of thousands of residents without power for days, districts did not have the option of switching to e-learning, a now-common replacement for snow days. Only one district would need the resolution, which a House subcommittee advanced unanimously Wednesday. Spartanburg School District 4 closed for 10 school days, one more than it could get forgiven by local and state education boards. After a week without power, teachers found what appeared to be mold on some desks, so the district remained closed long enough to test air quality and have classrooms professionally cleaned, according to the district's Facebook page. Under a 2015 law, districts must build three makeup days into their schedule in case of extreme weather. Those can be tacked onto the end of the school year, or districts can require students complete work on Saturdays or teacher work days, either in-person or virtually, to make up the time. Once those days have been used or the dates have passed, districts can ask the local school board to waive up to three more days. The state Board of Education can vote to forgive another three days after that. SC led Southeast in customers in the dark days after Helene. Utilities respond to complaints. The state Board of Education will consider requests from several districts looking for waivers at its April 1 meeting. The deadline to apply for waivers is still open, so the state Department of Education could not give a number of how many districts have applied, a spokesman said. Districts in Spartanburg, Greenville, Cherokee, Anderson and Pickens counties remained closed the week after the storm hit the state in September. Some schools, such as districts in Greenwood and Aiken counties, were on fall break that week, meaning they missed few, if any, days. Only once a district has received waivers from local and state boards will the Legislature step in. A nine-member subcommittee voted to change the resolution Wednesday to add that districts looking to have school days forgiven at a state level must submit a plan showing how they would 'create a more appropriate schedule' to avoid the same request in the future. 'My hope is that it doesn't continue to happen,' said Rep. Shannon Erickson, a Beaufort Republican who leads the education committee. State revenue pays for 180 days of instruction, so forgiving the extra days would constitute 'throwing away' that money, said Rep. Phillip Bowers. At the same time, school districts should be able to decide what they can or can't make up, Bowers said. 'I'm really torn on this one,' the Six Mile Republican said, before voting to support the resolution.
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
SC House passes bill to revive K-12 vouchers, as deadline for next school year approaches
Rep. Neal Collins, R-Easley, talks about K-12 vouchers on Wednesday, FEb. 26, 2025. (Provided/SCETV legislative livestream) COLUMBIA — House Republicans on Wednesday easily passed their plan for reviving K-12 private tuition payments in South Carolina, as the floor debate provided new insight into how parents used their taxpayer-funded scholarships this school year. The bill approved 79-38 mostly along party lines — no Democrat voted for it — is purposely similar to the voucher law partially thrown out by the state Supreme Court last September. Republicans expect a do-over before the state's high court with whatever they pass. And this proposal 'is what we need' to get a ruling that allows private tuition payments to resume, House Education Chairwoman Shannon Erickson, R-Beaufort, told her colleagues. At issue is the state constitution's ban on public dollars directly benefiting private education. The House bill attempts to get around that by putting a trustee in charge of the transfers. Rep. Justin Bamberg, a Bamberg County Democrat, likened the move to money laundering. 'The state effectively money launders it through this third-party trustee and then they go to a private business,' he said. Rep. Neal Collins, who was among five Republicans to vote against the bill, argued the scholarships are still funded with public money and, therefore, still unconstitutional. 'You really have to do some mental gymnastics to think this public money is not public money,' said the Easley Republican. Numbers he provided from the podium offered the first public details on how parents used their allotments this school year, which the Department of Education has previously declined to provide the SC Daily Gazette. The September court ruling came after the state transferred the first of four, quarterly $1,500 allotments to parents' accounts. While the ruling abruptly stopped all private tuition payments, it kept the rest of the law intact, meaning the transfers continued for still-allowed expenses. As of mid-January, computers and other 'technological devices' made up the single biggest category of parents' spending, at $1.5 million total over 4,387 transactions, according to a spreadsheet the Department of Education provided the Gazette after Collins' floor speech. That represents just under half of the $3.1 million spent by Jan. 17 through the online portal. (Parents choose how their money's spent through the portal. They do not receive cash or reimbursements.) It's great that students received roughly 4,400 computers, Collins said. 'What I'm concerned about is, nothing stops anybody from returning these computers' and pocketing the money, he said. The second biggest category was school tuition, at about $970,000 over 947 transactions. The spreadsheet doesn't provide any breakdown on how many students were involved in those transactions. At least some of them could be for fees charged by public schools for students who transferred from another district. The ruling didn't stop those. What the numbers show is just how much of the $30 million the Legislature allocated for the program's first school year will go unused. Even before legislators finalized the state budget last year, it was clear the full $30 million wouldn't be necessary. While up to 5,000 Medicaid-eligible students could participate the first year, most applicants didn't qualify. Less than 2,900 students were enrolled by the deadline, the Daily Gazette reported last May. A $6,000 scholarship for each enrolled student meant less than $17.3 million total could be spent by parents this school year. As of mid-January, the department had transferred about $6.7 million to the accounts for 1,845 students statewide, according to the spreadsheet. How scholarship money has been spent Computers and technological devices: $1,503,010 School: $969,651 Tutoring: $265,502 Other: $150,039 Instructional materials: $138,174 Curriculum: $34,549 Retailer: $28,929 Textbooks and reading books: $13,366 Therapist: $6,420 Tuition and fees for online schools: $3,627 Source: SC Department of Education. Dollar figures are as of Jan. 17. Erickson attributed the low participation to private tuition payments stopping in September and parents being unaware of the program in its fledgling year. The spreadsheet, which breaks down the number of participants per county, shows students in all 46 counties received scholarships. Richland County, home to the state capital, accounted for the most students in a single county, by far, at 304; followed by Greenville (the state's most populous county), at 160 students; then Spartanburg, at 148. Fifteen counties were in the single digits, with Bamberg and McCormick counties tying for the smallest number of students, at two each. 'We've got students in every single county using it, and those numbers will continue to grow,' Erickson said. 'We barely got to roll it out with good information last year, and we know that there are other children that are interested in coming.' But that wouldn't explain why roughly 1,000 of the students enrolled last May dropped out of the program entirely before any transfers were made. Collins and other opponents offered possibilities: Rural students have few, if any, local private school options. A lack of transportation may be an obstacle for getting students to options that do exist. Private schools may not be accepting students who don't meet their criteria, such as high grades, or if they have a behavioral issue. And even with a $6,000 scholarship, poor parents can't afford schools that can charge several times that. Under the 2023 law, eligibility expands in the upcoming school year to 10,000 students with family incomes up to 300% of the federal poverty level, which is about $96,000 for a family of three. The application period closes March 15. More than 4,700 students have already applied, according to the state Department of Education. Republicans' proposals, both in the House and Senate, would maintain the existing law's income eligibility rules for next two school years. In 2026-27, 15,000 students from families who make up to 400% of the poverty level can participate. Under the House bill, there won't be any income limits starting in school year 2027-28, though there will be application priority windows for lower-income students. 'That's a handout,' said Rep. David Martin, R-Fort Mill. 'That's not helpful. That's free money for rich people.' And unlike existing law, both the House and Senate plans would open up eligibility to students already attending private schools, though public school students would get priority. The 2023 law required students to be leaving a public school or entering kindergarten. 'I consider this a tuition discount for people who already send their kids to private schools,' said Rep. Heather Bauer, D-Columbia. Rep. Jeff Bradley, chairman of the House education K-12 subcommittee, stressed that program's cost is a tiny fraction of the nearly $15 billion going into South Carolina's K-12 public schools from local, state and federal taxes. 'I think given the total amount we spend on education, it's worth taking a risk to see if we can do something better about it,' said Bradley, R-Hilton Head Island. Opponents argued that money would be better spent improving public education. Bamberg noted state funding for the scholarships will rise to an estimated $96 million in 2026-27 and keep going up. That amount may be comparatively small to overall spending statewide, he said. But it's a huge amount for poor, rural school districts that pass along massive amounts of debt to pay for renovations or new schools, which Bamberg argued should be a state responsibility. In districts with little tax base, residents pay higher property taxes on their homes and vehicles to pay for school construction debt. 'At this point to me, it's so obvious,' Bamberg said. 'This isn't about giving everybody choice.' A perfunctory vote Thursday will return the bill to the Senate, which can either agree to the House changes and send the bill to Gov. Henry McMaster's desk or insist on its version.
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
SC House voucher plan is intentionally very similar to what high court threw out
Rep. Shannon Erickson, R-Beaufort, during a committee meeting Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025. (Screenshot/SCETV livestream) COLUMBIA — The voucher plan heading to the House floor looks a lot like the one struck down by the state Supreme Court last year, with one main difference: The money would flow through a designated trustee instead of a 'trust fund.' That one tweak — putting a single person in charge of paying tuition for eligible students — should be enough to make the law constitutional, House Education Chairwoman Shannon Erickson told reporters. It's a test, of sorts, as she fully expects any new voucher law to be back before the state's high court. Sending justices something so similar to what they threw out will be more informative than a vastly different law, Erickson said. Either their ruling will allow transfers for private K-12 tuition to resume, or it will give the Legislature a clearer picture of how to try again, she said. 'The goal here is to get the feedback … or get the approval,' Erickson, R-Beaufort, told reporters after her committee voted 13-4 along party lines to send the bill to the floor. 'We're going to learn from it,' she continued. 'And we're going to make it better, and we're going to listen to what the court says. That's how you learn.' SC Senate passes K-12 voucher bill pulling from lottery profits The state Senate took a very different approach in the bill it passed last month, which used lottery profits to fund the K-12 scholarships and increased the scholarship amount. In changing the source of the money, GOP senators repeatedly noted that lottery profits already fund scholarships to private colleges and private preschools. So, it should be a constitutional source for K-12 tuition too, they argued. But Erickson said that's an untested idea. Lottery funding for K-12 private tuition is a relative wild card before the high court, she said. While Democrats will oppose the bill on the House floor, the chamber's GOP supermajority is certain to pass it. The real battle will likely be between Republicans in the House and Senate. Both chambers' proposals are an attempt to revive the K-12 private tuition payments halted by the state Supreme Court last September, when a majority of justices found the transfers violated the state constitution's ban on public money directly benefiting private education. The rest of the law remains intact, meaning money is still flowing to parents' accounts for still-allowed spending, including tutoring, textbooks, and fees for students who transferred from one public school district to another. And sign-ups for the program continue while legislators seek to renew the real reason for the law: Private school choice. Under the House plan, the funding source for the scholarships would be up to the Legislature's budget writers every year. They could pull from lottery profits if they want, but it wouldn't be required by law, Erickson said. The South Carolina Education Association, which successfully sued the state over the 2023 law, still believes that would be unconstitutional, said MaryRita Watson, a lobbyist for the group. She urged legislators to 'let the people of South Carolina decide' whether the state should help pay for private K-12 tuition. In last fall's majority decision, justices already laid out a sure way for a voucher plan to be constitutional: Change the constitution first. That would require the Legislature to put a question on the ballot asking voters whether the ban on public money directly benefiting private schools should be deleted. 'The issue should be put on a ballot measure, allowing citizens of our state to determine whether they wish to allocate their public dollars to fund private religious schools,' Watson said. Donations will cover third-quarter costs for SC K-12 students using vouchers But GOP legislators have been reluctant to do that. The earliest voters could be asked is November 2026. Even if voters say 'yes,' the constitution wouldn't be amended until 2027. And ballot referendums on vouchers have failed in other states. Under the House bill, the program's scholarship amount and participation caps also closely mirror the law partially thrown out. Like the Senate bill (and existing law), up to 10,000 students whose families earn up to 300% of the federal poverty level, or nearly $80,000 for a family of three, would qualify in the coming school year. That would rise to 15,000 students with families making 400% of the poverty level during the 2026-2027 school year. Both the House and Senate plans would expand eligibility to students already attending private schools but give preference for the state aid, through the creation of priority application windows, to students seeking to leave a public school. Unlike the Senate plan, the House bill keeps scholarship amounts at $6,000 next school year. However, the dollar amount would rise in future years at the same rate that state aid to public schools increase. The Senate plan gives more money by providing 90% of the average per pupil aid to schools statewide. In the coming school year, that would be about $7,700. Democrats on the House committee worried about the program's cost. If all available spots are filled, the program will cost the state $60 million in 2025-26, a number that will continue to grow with eligibility and rising scholarship amounts. 'I am very, very concerned about how we're going to fund this bill long-term,' said Rep. Kambrell Garvin, D-Columbia. About 4,700 students have applied for the program for the coming year, said Meka Childs, the state Department of Education's director of education choice. That's in addition to the 1,700 students who were accepted last year and opted to stay in the program, she said. The deadline to apply for the upcoming school year is March 15.
