By Senator Michael Johnson
As I am typing these words I have just cast my vote on the state budget. The budget debate began on Tuesday and lasted about six hours. We spent just over twelve hours today debating the $15.8 billion budget. My goal for this budget was to put as much of our resources as possible into education, infrastructure, and law enforcement. While we didn’t accomplish everything that I had hoped for, we made significant strides.
This year’s budget has an emphasis on education. The Senate’s budget puts more funding towards public education than at any time in the history of our state. Forty-five percent of all new recurring funds this year went to education. Just ten years ago the starting salary for a teacher was under $30,000. Starting next school year, a starting teacher must make a minimum of $47,000. While some school districts pay teachers more than the minimum salary – Fort Mill does – there are numerous districts that do not. This is a significant move from last year’s starting salary of $42,500 and puts us on track to be at $50,000 or more by 2026. Veteran teachers will also see pay increases as we extended the teacher pay scale from 24 years to 28.
The budget focuses on more than just education though. This year we made an investment in our state’s infrastructure. We put $175 million towards building the Veterinary School at Clemson and $100 million towards the University of South Carolina Medical School. The Department of Juvenile Justice will see $20 million to begin the process of improving their facilities. We focused on roads by putting $100 million towards bridge repairs, $117 million into fixing our rural roads, and $200 million to resurfacing projects in every county. Veterans will see $34.5 million put towards veteran’s nursing homes. Lastly, we put $43 million towards local water and sewer through the Rural Infrastructure Authority.
State employees will get a 2.75% pay raise. The Highway Patrol will see $1.6 million in salary increases. In order to grow our workforce, we put $200 million towards the Technical College system for workforce training and capital improvements. We also put $11.5 million towards security and integrity of the 2024 election.
All of this was done while reducing my and your income taxes by over $100 million. This is the third straight year we have cut income taxes. In 2022 we cut income taxes by almost $1 billion and sent a $1 billion rebate back to our citizens. That’s over $1.3 billion in tax cuts in three years. I firmly believe that the best way to curb government growth is to limit its revenue. By cutting taxes – and returning those funds to you – we are accomplishing that goal. Government can’t fund everything, nor should it. By focusing on core areas of government – education, infrastructure, and security – we have kept our eyes on the target.
We aren’t done yet. The Senate budget returns to the House where additional tweaks and changes will be made. In late May or early June, we will return to Columbia to finalize the budget. Between now and then I will continue to fight for core areas of government and the continuation of substantial tax cuts.
Michael Johnson represents District 16 in the South Carolina Senate. District 16 includes TegaCay, Fort Mill and Indian Land. He can be reached at [email protected].
