SC sending K-12 schools $2M to lock up student cellphones
The money is part of $20 million in grants the Department of Education is distributing to school districts
BY: SKYLAR LAIRD - NOVEMBER 7, 2024 4:35 PM
WEST COLUMBIA — Public schools districts will receive nearly $2 million in state tax dollars to keep students’ cellphones locked up during the day, according to Department of Education data.
The funding came from $20 million in the state budget for school safety projects. On Tuesday, the Board of Education approved how it will be distributed. Altogether, 67 school districts — including two charter districts and the Department of Juvenile Justice’s district — received some portion of the grant money.
Top five uses for school safety grants
Source: S.C. Department of Education data
This was the second year the Legislature gave $20 million to the Department of Education with the directive of giving it to schools to improve safety. It was the first time, however, that money came in conjunction with a new rule barring students from using their cellphones during the day.
By January, every school district must adopt a policy prohibiting students from using cellphones that is at least as strict as the one the state Board of Education passed in September. If districts don’t comply, they risk losing state funding.
The state board, which the Legislature directed to come up with a policy, left most of the details on implementation and enforcement up to local school districts.
That means implementation will look different across the state. Students might have to keep their phones in their backpacks or lockers, or even leave them at home, depending on a district’s policy.
Five school districts are using state money for pouches to lock up students’ phones. Another 14 said they are using it to buy other storage, such as designated lockers or cubbies where students can keep their devices during the school day, according to department data.
The Department of Education, which fields requests from districts for the money, considered the new cellphone rule a safety issue because students can easily bully each other online, and because phones might distract students from listening to teachers and administrators in the case of an emergency, state Superintendent Ellen Weaver said Thursday.
“We know that when there is a situation happening in a school, the most important thing is that that student be fully focused on the adult who is getting them to safety,” Weaver told reporters. “Not distracted by a screen and not videotaping, but getting them to safety is the number one priority, and then they can look at their phone.”
About $5.9 million more of the grant money will go toward installing locks on classroom and building doors in 21 districts. That’s the highest amount the state awarded for a single purpose, according to department data.
Across the state, 39% of teachers reported that their classroom doors didn’t lock from the inside, according to a September survey of Palmetto State Teachers Association members. That number was down from last year, when 41% of teachers said the same thing. Funding from school safety grants likely helped with that drop, said the association’s lobbyist Patrick Kelly.
The state Department of Education plans to ask for another $20 million to continue helping schools buy safety equipment this coming budget year, Weaver said.
Skylar Laird covers the South Carolina Legislature and criminal justice issues. Originally from Missouri, she previously worked for The Post and Courier’s Columbia bureau.
SC Daily Gazette is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
Hurricane relief, taxes, vouchers among GOP House leadership priorities
A letter from caucus leaders outlines some of what legislators will focus on next year
BY: ABRAHAM KENMORE AND SEANNA ADCOX - NOVEMBER 7, 2024 4:19 PM
COLUMBIA — Providing hurricane relief, cutting income taxes and reinstating K-12 scholarships for private schools are top priorities for Republicans in the state House following historic GOP election gains that make it easier for them to push through their agenda.
They are among the broad goals outlined Wednesday by House Speaker Murrell Smith and House GOP caucus leaders in a letter ahead of the caucus’ organizational meeting in Columbia next week, where they’ll discuss the details. Notably not mentioned in the letter is abortion.
At the top of the agenda will be helping South Carolinians recover from tropical storms Debby and Helene, according to the letter obtained by the SC Daily Gazette.
“First, we are committed to helping communities devastated by recent hurricanes across South Carolina,” reads the letter sent to all caucus members who won re-election and Republicans who newly won House seats. It is signed by Smith of Sumter, House Speaker Pro Tem Tommy Pope of York, Majority Leader Davey Hiott of Pickens, Chief Whip Brandon Newton of Lancaster, and Rep. Lee Hewitt of Murrells Inlet.
In August, Tropical Storm Debby caused flooding and spun off some tornadoes across much of the state, damaging buildings, but no one died. Then Helene hammered the state in late September. Its destructive path left over a million homes and businesses without power and killed 49 people, making it the deadliest storm in state history and one of the costliest. Restoring services took weeks in some parts of the state.
“We are committed to assisting every town, city, and county who may not have the resources or cash reserves necessary to get back on their feet,” the letter reads.
House and Senate leaders decided against coming back early to deal with Helene’s aftermath. Beyond the extent of the damage not yet known, Smith told reporters Oct. 8, the state has $330 million in reserves available if needed before legislators return in January.
Smith, who was the House’s chief budget writer before becoming speaker, alluded to those reserves in the letter.
“We are more prepared than ever to manage the financial consequences of these storms due to setting aside reserve funds in previous budget cycles,” it reads.
School choice
Also to be addressed quickly is a GOP priority blocked by the state Supreme Court earlier this fall, when the court ruled South Carolina’s fledgling K-12 voucher program violated the state constitution’s ban on public money directly benefiting private education.
The decision ended all payments for private school tuition but left other parts of the law intact, allowing quarterly transfers of taxpayer dollars to parents’ accounts to continue for other expenses.
Roughly 700 students were paying private tuition with taxpayer-funded scholarships when the ruling came down, according to state Department of Education data and the think tank that helped parents sign up.
A Pennsylvania billionaire is covering their tuition for the rest of this semester. But come January, they may again face the possibility of needing to transfer to their local public school.
“The SC Supreme Court’s flawed ruling on educational scholarships devastated thousands of students and their families who counted on these funds,” reads the letter from caucus leaders. “We must restore this option for these children … and continue the fight for true school choice in South Carolina.”
Since the ruling, the court’s makeup has changed. That includes a new chief justice, John Kittredge, who was the author of the dissent in the 3-2 split vote. Next year, the Legislature may pass a very similar law to the last one in hopes a new court would rule differently.
Taxes
The Republican leaders also want to further reduce South Carolina’s state income tax, saying the “job isn’t finished” with the 2022 law that phased in a $1 billion tax cut. That law passed both chambers unanimously after Democrats worked with Republicans to broaden the tax breaks to lower-wage earners.
In this year’s budget, the Legislature doubled the law’s scheduled reduction to $200 million.
South Carolina already has among the nation’s lowest effective tax rates, among states with an income tax, due to its tax structure and generous exemptions and deductions. About 45% of tax filers already pay zero state income taxes. The wealthiest 10% pay 65% of all state income taxes collected, according to the state Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office.
“We must once again deliver historic income tax cuts to give South Carolinians more control over their hard-earned money,” they wrote.
Other priorities and abortion
The letter also outlines several priorities that passed the House but died in the Senate during the 2024 session.
They include reducing insurance rates for restaurants that serve alcohol; prohibiting public colleges from factoring applicants’ political stances into hiring, firing and admission decisions; and putting magistrates through a screening process. Of those, the latter faces the longest odds of passing, as senators’ opposition to altering their control over picking the county-level judges will likely continue regardless of its new composition.
One issue not in the letter: Abortion.
Last year, Republicans pushed through a law banning abortions past six weeks gestation, with limited exceptions. It took effect in August 2023 when the state Supreme Court declared the law constitutional. Some Republicans and anti-abortion activists have made clear they intend to pursue in 2025 a ban at the onset of pregnancy, on the hopes that the 2024 elections would change the makeup of the Senate, which previously blocked further restrictions.
They got their wish on a changed Senate.
All three Republican women who voted against a total ban were ousted during the June primaries. And Republicans flipped as many as four other Senate seats Tuesday, depending on the results of two automatic recounts.
The election left the upper chamber with as few as 12 Democrats among 46 senators, giving Republicans their largest advantage in 150 years in the state Legislature. In the House, Republicans held their beyond-supermajority advantage, flipping one seat in Berkeley County while Democrats picked up a new, open seat.
But abortion’s absence in the letter suggests GOP leaders have no intentions of renewing that debate in 2025. When responding to questions about abortion on the campaign trail this fall, several Republicans said they believed the 2023 law should be left alone.
The latest challenge to the ban, which sought to reset the ban at nine weeks instead of six, was rejected in May by a circuit court judge after the state Supreme Court refused to hear it directly. The case is expected to eventually be settled by the state’s high court.
In their letter’s conclusion, House leaders recognized that the issues they addressed “represent only a portion of the priorities identified by our caucus members for the upcoming session.”
Abraham Kenmore previously covered elections, health care and more for the SC Daily Gazette. He previously wrote for The Augusta Chronicle, where he reported on Georgia legislators, military and housing issues.
Seanna Adcox is a South Carolina native with three decades of reporting experience. She joined States Newsroom in September 2023 after covering the S.C. Legislature and state politics for 18 years. Her previous employers include The Post and Courier and The Associated Press.
SC Daily Gazette is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
