By Lindsay Street, Statehouse correspondent | The state’s first major education bill in decades is getting closer to the Senate floor, teeing it up for debate prior to the General Assembly’s slog as the two-year session ends in May, a key lawmaker says.
“It’ll be right across the desk on the first day with a favorable report,” Senate Education Chair Greg Hembree, R-Horry, told Statehouse Report. The session begins Jan. 14. Between now and the middle of December, Hembree said his committee will meet several times before voting it to the floor for debate.
The meandering and expansive package addresses a wide range of issues including bumping the starting pay of teachers, addressing how the state intervenes in failing schools, changing the state’s literacy program and more. In 2019, House and Senate leaders introduced the bill, which was quickly passed in the House.
In the upper chamber, Hembree and a bipartisan panel have pored over the package for 10 months with 20 public meetings.
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