Brack: State needs bold strategy
If you’re about to spend a lot of money on a good vacation, you plan for it. If you’re going to make an investment or build a house, you hire a financial advisor or architect to help you do what? Plan....
View ArticleWhat a year 2014 was in S.C.
With a GOP sweep of the 2014 elections, the toppling of a sitting House speaker and the implosion of the state agency dedicated to keeping children safe, the year in news has been filled with twists...
View ArticleBurgess: Focus on teaching and learning
By Gary L. Burgess Sr. PENDLETON, S.C. — The big government, status quo, tax and spend, liberal wing of the Republican Party will be in control of preK-12 public education in South Carolina once the...
View ArticleOne letter on Zais, three on Obama
Burgess defense of Zais is short on facts To the editor: I found Gary Burgess’s opinion piece in the Statehouse Report on January 2 of particular interest because of its egregious claims regarding what...
View ArticleThe third kick of a mule
We gave a shout to retired U.S. Sen. Fritz Hollings this week to share how two people in Washington have been quoting him this week.
View ArticleLucas appoints task force to work on education reform
House Speaker Jay Lucas today announced the appointment of a special task force to push education reform in light of last year’s state Supreme Court decision that requires the General Assembly and...
View ArticleRead Haley’s State of the State speech
In a sweeping State of the State address Wednesday in Columbia, Gov. Nikki Haley flip-flopped on a vow to not raise the state's low gas tax to deal with the state's crumbling road and bridge...
View ArticleBrack: More civics education is a good thing
The James B. Edwards Civics Education Initiative calls for high school students to take a 100-question U.S. Citizenship Civics Test as part of an existing half-year course in government. The proposal...
View ArticleMore hearings ahead on budget, S.C. State
Legislators will continue to be busy with committee meetings next week with key meetings on education reform, S.C. State University, gubernatorial appointments, agency budgets, domestic violence and...
View ArticleMore money for schools?
For the first time in years, the House Ways and Means Committee this week voted to increase the amount of per-pupil funding as part of its K-12 education budget package.
View ArticleBrack: “Dum spiro spero” on S.C. public education
By Andy Brack | Twenty years from now, historians just might look back on the past week as the tipping point for state legislators finally “getting it” that public education, particularly in rural...
View ArticleHouse to start budget floor debate Monday
Members of the S.C. House of Representatives will start debate on the 2015-16 budget at 1 p.m. Monday. Officials say debate is expected to last through Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Senate has a plethora...
View ArticleNEWS: Report documents education underfunding
By Bill Davis, senior editor | Alan Richard wants to be prouder of his home state. But it’s hard for the man who grew up in Piedmont and went on to cover an education beat for several state newspapers...
View ArticleNEWS: Crafting a blueprint for better schools
By Bill Davis, senior editor | S.C. House Education Committee members are leading the legislature’s off-season efforts to prepare a policy response to a two-decades-old lawsuit that found the state...
View ArticleSCORECARD: From flag removal to Gowdy to Harrell
This week's Scorecard: Thumbs up for flag removal poll numbers, Planned Parenthood. In the middle on slow movement for child protections, Trey Gowdy. Down for Bobby Harrell, General Assembly and the...
View ArticleBRACK: Stop shortchanging South Carolina
By Andy Brack, editor and publisher | South Carolinians have to get over the cheapskate model of democracy. To do otherwise is to continue to fail our future. Billions of dollars of underinvestment in...
View ArticleBRACK: Fix education funding and stop caterwauling about deadlines
By Andy Brack | You might not get much in your morning newspaper if reporters didn’t turn in stories by a certain time. Deadlines keep reporters -- and columnists -- on task. If there were not a...
View ArticleLETTERS: From fixing education to topless beaches
Letters on why children deserve better on education from state lawmakers and why roads should be paid with something other than gas taxes.
View Article10/16, full issue: Roads, education, citizenship
INSIDE: NEWS: Legislature under pressure on road funding COMMENTARY: Fix education funding and stop caterwauling about deadlines SPOTLIGHT: Riley Institute at Furman University MY TURN, Pamela Lackey:...
View Article11/20 issue: Child care, Tecklenburg, Columbia’s grace
In the Nov. 20, 2015, issue of Statehouse Report: NEWS: Reports stress importance of coordinating child services POLITICS: Tip of the hat to a past campaign COMMENTARY: Meet Charleston’s new mayor...
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