SC governor proposes raising teacher pay, striking cash-only rule for lottery tickets

COLUMBIA — Gov. Henry McMaster is asking legislators to increase teachers’ minimum pay to $50,000, keep college tuition steady, and allow people to buy state lottery tickets with a debit card. Those are among the recommendations in his $13 billion budget package released Monday, a day ahead of the Legislature’s return to the Statehouse. A $50,000 salary floor for first-year teachers in 2025 would reach his goal a year ahead of schedule and represent a 66% increase in starting pay since 2017, when he became governor. The additional $200 million his proposal distributes to K-12 schools would increase minimum pay by $3,000 across the so-called salary schedule, which pays teachers according to their years of experience and level of college degree. And, unlike last year, he is not seeking to change when pay rises — an idea that brought a backlash from veteran teachers with advanced degrees. The Republican governor also made clear that legislators need to keep increasing pay beyond the accomplished goal. “I emphasize again we should not stop there,” McMaster told reporters about the $50,000 recommendation. “We must have educated young people.” The latest report on teacher vacancies, released in November, showed the first break in ever-increasing shortages since 2019. Pay increases that have climbed above the Southeastern average could help explain the reduction. Comparing South Carolina to its next-door neighbors, the state-paid minimum for first-year teachers in Georgia this school year is just shy of $43,600, and in North Carolina, it’s $41,000. That’s $6,000 less than in South Carolina. However, as in South Carolina, school districts in surrounding states often use local taxes to pay more than state minimums. This school year’s state-paid average is $57,250. But with local supplements, 16 of South Carolina’s 72 school districts already start teachers at or above $50,000. Those districts wouldn’t be required to boost salaries more. The increased fiscal autonomy legislators gave them several years ago allows them to use their state aid however they want, as long as they pay teachers the state minimums. McMaster’s proposal also puts $29.4 million toward hiring 177 additional school resource officers, which would fulfill his push to have an armed officer at every public K-12 school. When he set the goal in 2018, following a mass shooting at a high school in Florida, 406 schools had an officer. That number’s grown to 1,106 this year. His budget also funds a third year of $20 million grants for school safety improvements. Last year’s awards included $2 million to lock up student’ cellphones during the day. As for higher education, McMaster seeks to freeze college tuition for in-state students for a sixth consecutive year. However, the $29 million his plan distributes in exchange for that promise is less than a quarter of what colleges say they need to keep tuition steady. Arguing there’s no rationale to colleges’ requests, the governor’s budget creates a “tuition mitigation” calculation that involves tuition, inflation, and the number of in-state, undergraduate students. He recommends putting $100 million toward the University of South Carolina’s efforts to build a highly specialized hospital for strokes, dementia and other diseases affecting the brain and nervous system. That’s $50 million less than USC is requesting in state aid for the estimated $350 million project in downtown Columbia’s BullStreet District. Beyond using lottery profits to fund merit-based college scholarships, McMaster wants to continue spending $100 million on need-based financial aid and $95 million on scholarships at technical colleges that prepare students for high-demand jobs. But keeping that tuition aid flowing from lottery sales, he said, will require ditching the cash-only rule for buying tickets. Lottery profits are expected to bring in $64.5 million less this fiscal year compared to last. And they’re projected to continue falling by $35.5 million next fiscal year, according to the state Board of Economic Advisors’ November forecast. But enabling people to buy lottery tickets with debit cards could turn that around. According to the Lottery Commission, that would generate an additional $52 million. According to the governor, South Carolina is one of only three states that require cash-only lottery sales, with Tennessee and Wyoming being the other two. McMaster, who as state GOP chairman campaigned against the lottery ahead of the 2000 referendum, said he remains opposed to gambling. But “there are a lot of young people who got an education” from lottery-funded scholarships who couldn’t otherwise afford it, and the state shouldn’t abandon that, he said. Fewer people are buying lottery tickets partly because of the cash-only rule. Not only do fewer people carry cash, but a lot of stores no longer even allow cash payments, he said. Allowing debit purchases would keep up with the times without allowing people to go into debt to play the lottery, he said. He’s against allowing credit card purchases, since that can run up a debt, but likened using a debit card to spending only what’s in your pocket. “If we don’t allow changes of that program, the chances of being able to do what we’re supposed to are slim,” McMaster told reporters. As for how to further cut income taxes, he’s leaving that to legislators. McMaster’s budget gives no specific recommendations beyond completing the tax cuts provided in a 2022 law, which is on track to be fully phased in next year. Cuts should continue “as much as we can, and as fast as we can,” he said. But he made no suggestion on the numbers. House Republicans have made “historic income tax cuts” a top priority. Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey has said the Legislature should go beyond cutting income taxes to overhaul the tax code. There is no plan yet. The governor’s budget proposal is just that — a proposal, which legislators can use as a guide or ignore. They generally do some of both. However, McMaster’s had better success than his predecessors with his budget recommendations, largely because he meets with legislative leaders ahead of releasing his plan and works with him through the process — rather than publicly criticizing them. McMaster’s budget plan again provides pay raises for state law enforcement but includes no across-the-board cost-of-living raise for other state employees. However, it would fully fund increases in state employees and teachers’ health care premiums, representing the 13th consecutive year they would pay nothing more out of pocket for their health care expenses. Covering that increase will cost more than $112 million next fiscal year, bringing the total rise in employees’ premiums over four years to almost $450 million. “Long-term, it is simply unsustainable for the state health plan to require over $100 million additional dollars annually,” the budget reads. So, he’s calling for a cost study, saying health insurers contracted by the agency that oversees employee benefits need to propose cost savings to slow the rate of growth. The State Health Plan provides health insurance for more than 540,000 public employees, their spouses and dependents. They include employees of K-12 school districts, colleges, state agencies and retired government workers. The budget plan includes an additional $55.4 million just to maintain health services for South Carolinians covered by Medicaid. Asked about the potential of supporting an expansion of Medicaid eligibility to more poor adults, the reply from his office was quick: No. Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our website. AP and Getty images may not be republished. Please see our republishing guidelines for use of any other photos and graphics.