by Jack O'Toole

As the S.C. General Assembly convened for its 2025 legislative session on Jan. 14, Gov. Henry McMaster continued the longstanding gubernatorial tradition of greeting lawmakers with an executive budget plan touting his spending priorities for the year ahead.  This year sounded much the same  — higher teacher pay, income tax cuts – but also included disaster relief for victims of Hurricane Helene. 

But the continuation of a more recent budget tradition caught the eyes of some good government advocates — namely, the existence of yet another “surplus” of almost $2 billion in last year’s “unexpected revenues” for lawmakers to dole out in one-time expenditures as they construct the spending plan for 2025-26.

“The state has so many needs and this surplus isn’t genuine,” S.C. League of Women Voters Vice President Lynn Teague told Statehouse Report. “This is money that needs to be used [for critical programs].”

S.C. Education Association President Sherry East echoed Teague’s concerns about the process.

“You’ve got state workers, teachers, public employees, and they’re really hurting,” East said. “With more accuracy in the projections, [lawmakers] could make a long-term commitment to educators and firefighters and police officers in the budget.”

Nevertheless, East noted that teachers are “grateful” for lawmakers’ ongoing efforts to raise their pay, particularly in poor, rural counties — one of several funding commitments McMaster’s executive budget seeks to address in 2025.

Here are some highlights from the governor’s $13 billion spending plan.

Read the full article from the Statehouse Report at the link above.