At a meeting of the South Carolina House Education and Public Works Committee, the Education Oversight Committee and the State Department of Education presented data showing an 85.4% on-time graduation rate for the Class of 2024 while warning that a substantial share of graduates are not considered college- or career-ready.

The presentations explained the EOC’s role in approval of content standards and statewide assessments, annual evaluations of state-funded programs and the public education dashboards launched at dashboardsc.sc.gov.

"The EOC's role in K–12 public education ... we approve the content standards and the statewide assessments for the big four," said Dana Yao, executive director of the Education Oversight Committee, summarizing the agency's statutory duties and its work on report cards and program evaluations. Yao said the EOC evaluates programs the General Assembly funds, including the full-day 4Ks program and a teacher loan program, and that the EOC has produced studies of rural recruitment incentives and modes of instruction.

Yao said the EOC’s evaluation found the full-day 4Ks program ‘‘does work for 4 year olds’’ and noted the committee maintains an education data dashboard intended to make school-level spending and performance easier to see. She told members the EOC had reviewed a rural recruitment initiative that uses $7,600,000 in EIA funding and that the committee will pursue further evaluation in 2026.

Philip Cease, director of governmental affairs for the State Department of Education, outlined the department’s strategic plan and budget requests, and described statewide implementation steps for the science-of-reading effort known as LETRS and the Palmetto Math Project. "The mission of South Carolina Department of Education is to serve students, support teachers, empower parents, engage the community so that every student graduates prepared to reach their full potential," Cease said.

Cease said the legislature previously funded nearly $40 million for high-quality professional learning in K–3 reading and that about 20,000 teachers are either in the pipeline or have completed LETRS training; the department is offering stipends for completion. He said the department is seeking additional recurring and nonrecurring funds for high-quality instructional materials: $20,000,000 recurring and $95,000,000 nonrecurring earmarked for math materials tied to newly adopted math standards.

On readiness and retention, Yao and Cease described a two‑part problem: more students are graduating on time, but fewer leave high school with a credential judged to prepare them for college or a career. Yao cited the Class of 2024 on-time graduation rate of 85.4 percent and showed dashboard graphics on college- and career-readiness; Cease outlined options that count as college- or career-ready for accountability (ACT/SAT thresholds, AP/IB/dual-credit, workforce certifications, ASVAB, and CTE completer pathways).

A Q&A revealed some confusion in members’ interpretation of charts. Committee members pressed for clarity about how many graduates meet the department’s college- or career-readiness thresholds and about the effect of retention policies. Yao and Cease described Read to Succeed and Read to Succeed 2 as policies tied to retention, summer reading camps and interventions for third graders who do not meet benchmarks.

Cease also reviewed a model statewide cell‑phone policy enacted as a proviso in the appropriations bill and branded by the department as "Free to Focus." The proviso directs the State Board of Education to adopt a model policy and requires local school districts to adopt a policy or risk losing classroom state aid; it leaves details such as consequences and exceptions to local districts, with permissible exceptions for medical devices and other narrowly defined uses.

On staffing and school safety, Cease reiterated prior investments and the department’s current budget requests: a proposal to raise starting teacher pay to $50,000 (a $200,000,000 recurring request), $2,000,000 for special schools, $5,000,000 for strategic compensation phase two, and $100,000,000 recurring for a rural infrastructure bank to support school facilities and safety upgrades. He also listed program asks including funding for summer reading camps, CTE Rural Renaissance ($13,000,000), and support to fully fund existing formula grants.

Committee members asked about absenteeism, teacher recruitment and retention, and variations in proficiency by grade. Yao said the EOC has completed focus groups with students and recently finished parent focus groups on chronic absenteeism and will share findings with the committee. She said absenteeism is a statewide trend that research ties to motivation, access to alternate instruction and school engagement.

Why it matters: committee members were repeatedly told that data tools and targeted funding would be used to close readiness gaps, support teachers and identify local strategies for retention, recruitment and school culture. Cease asked legislators to allow the proviso and pilot policies to run a full year so the department can collect data before seeking statutory codification.

The department and the EOC offered to provide slides and dashboard access to members and to meet with members’ districts for further discussion. The presenters did not propose specific legislation during the session; they presented evaluations, strategic priorities and the department’s 2025 budget requests to the committee.

Ending

The committee received the materials and asked staff to distribute the presentations and dashboard links. Members signaled they will follow up on the department’s budget requests and requested supplementary data on teacher turnover, the rural recruitment initiative’s return on investment and the parent focus-group results on absenteeism.