South Carolina First Steps requests recurring and one‑time funds to expand 4Ks, local partnerships and innovation; asks for proviso changes

Anne Vander Fleet, agency director of South Carolina First Steps, and Mark Barnes, director of administration, presented program results, financials and multiple funding requests to the Public Education and Special Schools Subcommittee.

Vander Fleet said First Steps serves children from birth through age 5 via 46 local partnerships, full‑day 4Ks and an early childhood advisory council. She told the subcommittee the agency served more than 64,000 infants, toddlers and preschoolers in direct services and reached 80,000 children in childcare settings and classrooms during 2023–24. Vander Fleet said South Carolina has approximately 334,000 children under age 6 and that about 42 percent of that group is economically vulnerable; she noted 59 percent of kindergarten students did not demonstrate readiness on the state's kindergarten readiness assessment.

Mark Barnes walked the subcommittee through how First Steps has spent funds provided in the current fiscal year and described cash balances. Barnes said the agency’s 4Ks account held about $14,000,000 at the end of fiscal 2023 and dropped to about $10,000,000 at the end of fiscal 2024. He said the agency expected funds received this year to be spent down and described an unrestricted balance of roughly $1,200,000 while the remaining balance was restricted for specific purposes.

On funding requests, First Steps outlined multiple priorities and dollar amounts on the record: • $192,000 (recurring) to cover across‑the‑board increases and health insurance costs for employees funded by EIA money; • a recruitment and retention pay adjustment request (amount not specified on the record) to stabilize staff after multi‑year pay pressure; • $2,281,000 recurring to expand local partnership capacity, of which $1,500,000 would be awarded through ready/REDI grants and $281,000 to cover increased costs of direct support, audits and payroll/grants management systems; • $2,500,000 nonrecurring for innovation investments to scale proven local models and incentivize multi‑agency partnership; • $2,770,120 recurring to expand full‑day 4Ks capacity (projected 7 percent enrollment increase) and $823,900 nonrecurring to cover a $200 per‑student tuition increase in certain programs.

Vander Fleet said the agency wants tight alignment between investments and measurable gains in kindergarten readiness; she set an aspirational five‑year goal that at least 75 percent of South Carolina children demonstrate readiness, and she said current 4Ks classrooms show about 29 percent meeting that standard.

On provisos, First Steps proposed three changes: (1) require First Steps and the Department of Education to share 4Ks and CERDAP wait‑list data by Sept. 1 to increase placements; (2) change a cap on ready/REDI grants from 10 percent of funds to a 20 percent cap for any single county so larger or regional innovation efforts could be funded; and (3) delete the separation proviso because the agency has completed its administrative separation from the Department of Education.

Committee members asked for additional data on rural access, teacher recruitment and retention, and how ready grants would be administered. Vander Fleet and Barnes said they would provide further county‑level data and that the agency is coordinating with the Department of Social Services and other partners to stabilize teacher pay and expand capacity. There was no recorded subcommittee appropriation vote during the presentation; the discussion moved on to the subcommittee’s proviso votes later in the meeting.