S.C. governor unveils proposed executive budget for 2024

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WCSC) - South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster on Friday unveiled his executive budget recommendations for the state’s 2024-2025 fiscal year.

“South Carolina’s booming economy has once again created a record budget surplus, this year totaling over $1.64 billion in unexpected revenue,” McMaster said at Friday’s news conference. He is calling for tax relief and making bold, targeted investments in education, economic development, and public safety.

Several of his recommendations target education in the state. He wants to see the starting salary for teachers in the state rise from $42,500 to $45,000. His goal by the year 2026 is a minimum starting pay of at least $50,000.

“Two years ago, South Carolina’s system for funding K-12 education was archaic and confusing, a piecemeal system consisting of 29 separate line-item appropriations. Now, a consolidated formula makes sure that funding follows the child. It keeps pace with student enrollment and provides financial resources to a state average student-teacher ratio of 11.4 students per teacher with an average teacher salary including fringe benefits of $79,536. This Executive Budget also increases state aid to classrooms by $250 million,” he said.

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He called for $115 million for instructional materials, $21.1 million for funding for the full-day four-year-old kindergarten program to cover an additional 2,500 children from low-income households expected to enroll in the program in the 2024-2025 school year.

His budget also includes $13.4 million for school resource officers.

“Placing an armed, certified school resource officer in every school, in every county, all day, every day, has been one of my top priorities as governor,” he said. “At my request, the General Assembly began funding a grant program istered by the Department of Public Safety, to provide school districts with funds to hire more resource officers for our state’s 1,284 public schools. The grant program has been very successful and has more than doubled the number of officers assigned to a school, going from 406 in 2018 to 1,109 in 2023.”

The additional $13.4 million, he said, would add an officer in 175 existing and new schools the currently do not have an assigned SRO.

For infrastructure, he wants the General Assembly to set aside at least $500 million in surplus funds from the Homestead Exemption Fund for the state’s Department of Transportation to be used for emergency bridge replacement and repairs.

“There is no infrastructure more in need of investment than our state’s roads, bridges, highways, and interstates,” he said. “Because our booming economy and rapid population growth have outpaced the state’s ability to keep up with improvements to our transportation infrastructure, we must continue to make big, bold, and transformative investments.”

McMaster’s recommendations also include a $99 million allocation to cover a further income tax cut.

“Until a few years ago, South Carolina had the highest personal income tax rate in the southeast and the 12th-highest in the nation. No more,” he said. “Two years ago, I signed into law the largest income tax cut in state history. Accordingly, my executive budget recognizes this year’s $99 million scheduled cut to the income tax rate, dropping it to 6.3%.”

While the governor said the state is in “superior fiscal shape,” he called for state lawmakers to set aside $54.3 million for the state’s rainy day fund, which he said would make sure the fund maintains a balance equal to 10% of the 2024-2025 General Appropriations Act.

Additional highlights include:

• $107 million for the state health plan
• $100 million for the Commission on Higher Education from a lottery surplus
• $100 million for need-based financial aid
• $95 million for workforce industry needs scholarships
• $81.3 million for veterans’ nursing homes
• $50 million for EV training institutes
• $49.8 million for a continued tuition freeze for in-state students
• $39.5 million for $2,000 income tax credits for first responders
• $33 million for preservation and conservation initiatives
• $30 million for education scholarship s
• $26.2 million for state employee recruitment and retention
• $17.8 million for law enforcement pay raises
• $15 million for SC Nexus
• $10 million for a homelessness pilot project
• $3 million for a ‘Future of Higher Education’ study

“By thinking big, by being bold, and by making transformative investments, I believe we will set our state on a course that will provide the opportunity for prosperity, success, and happiness for generations of South Carolinians. Let us continue working together. I believe in South Carolina, I believe in America, and I believe the best is yet to come,” he said.

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