By Lindsay Street, Statehouse correspondent | In this “Year of Education” at the Statehouse, South Carolina likely won’t launch any new, innovative programs through its budget. But state leaders are seeking to shore up the beleaguered education system with teacher pay raises and an increase to the amount of money spent on every public school pupil.
Last week, House chief budget-writer Rep. Murrell Smith, R-Sumter, began wrapping up budget talks and, this week, the House Ways and Means Committee adopted reports from subcommittees. Smith spoke to Statehouse Report about what has surprised him about his first year chairing the House Ways and Means Committee.
“People ... come to us and make requests for pilot projects or say, ‘We’ve got an answer to how we can improve education in South Carolina,’ and, to me, that’s emblematic of how we got in the situation we are,” Smith said. “You have to resist those requests.”
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