The Problem(s) with Common Core
WILL COMMON CORE PREPARE YOUR KID FOR SUCCESS? UNFORTUNATELY, NO. Over the last year, we’ve seen a number of pro-Common Core publications that ask and purport to answer some variation of…
S.C.’s Economic Outlook Still Lackluster
A BRIEF LOOK AT WHY The latest ALEC-Laffer State Economic Competitiveness Index ranks South Carolina’s economic outlook at 31st in the nation. That’s right. Despite handing out hundreds of millions…
S.C. Lawmakers & Your Taxes
THINK S.C. LAWMAKERS ARE SERIOUS WHEN THEY EXTOL THE VIRTUES OF “LOW TAXES”? PREPARE TO BE DISAPPOINTED. South Carolina is known as a “red state” and a “conservative” state, and so…
Withdrawing from Smarter Balanced: Q&A
SOUTH CAROLINA MAY WITHDRAW FROM THE COMMON CORE-ALIGNED CONSORTIUM KNOWN AS SMARTER BALANCED. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? With the recent move by the South Carolina Department of Education to remove…
Lawmakers’ Latest Power Grab: Just the Facts
LEGISLATORS’ ARGUMENTS FAIL TO PERSUADE H.5072 – one of the most brazen acts of legislative retaliation we’ve ever witnessed – would allow the House and Senate to authorize a special prosecutor to investigate…
New Deregulation Bills Filed
ARE LAWMAKERS GETTING SERIOUS ABOUT REGULATION? The Policy Council has pointed out before the economically destructive effects of regulation. We’ve also argued that regulation is often – perhaps usually –…
The Politician Protection Act?
ARE HOUSE MEMBERS USING THE LAW TO PROTECT SOMEONE? OR TO WARN SOMEONE? PERHAPS THEY SHOULD EXPLAIN. Over the last year, we’ve noticed a growing number of bills introduced for the…
The Ethics Bill: Still Alive, for Now
THE STICKING POINT: SELF-POLICING A House Judiciary subcommittee met on Tuesday to once again take up the “ethics bill” – H.3945. Versions of the bill have already passed both the…
How to Free South Carolina’s Energy Market
YOUR ELECTRICITY RATES ARE HIGH, AND GOING HIGHER. HERE’S THE REASON. In South Carolina – as in most other states – regulation has almost completely divorced the energy sector from the…
Making Earmarks Public
PERSONAL FUNDING REQUESTS SHOULDN’T BE ANONYMOUS A vast amount of money, but you know virtually nothing about what’s being spent, or why. That’s not because you’re uninformed – the state…
Educational Freedom: How to Achieve It
HOW TO THINK DIFFERENTLY ABOUT EDUCATION IN S.C. It’s no secret that South Carolina has some of the worst public schools and some of the lowest levels of student academic…
A Crackdown on Accommodations Tax “Evaders”
LAWMAKERS’ ANSWER TO UNFAIRNESS: PUNISH MORE BUSINESSES, NOT FEWER Almost all forms of taxation raise the question of fairness. Why does one person pay a higher percentage of his or…