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South Carolina superintendent asks legislature for major investments in literacy, math, teacher pay and school safety
Summary
Superintendent Weaver told the House education subcommittee the Department of Education is seeking recurring and nonrecurring funds to expand summer reading camps, buy instructional materials, raise starting teacher pay and create an education infrastructure bank; lawmakers pressed for more program-level data and oversight documentation.
Superintendent Chandra Weaver asked the House education subcommittee on Jan. 14 for a package of new and continued investments aimed at accelerating learning and stabilizing the teacher workforce.
"We have excellence happening in every corner of South Carolina," Weaver said, but added the state must align resources to reach its goal that 75% of students be at or above grade-level proficiency by 2030. Weaver detailed several specific funding requests, including $30,000,000 in recurring funds to expand summer reading camps, $50,000,000 nonrecurring and $20,000,000 recurring for high-quality instructional materials and a $2,000 across-the-board pay increase in the governor's budget to raise minimum starting salary levels.
Weaver said the department will continue to invest in literacy and the science of reading, reporting that more than 20,000 South Carolina teachers will complete LETRS training this school year and that SC Ready scores showed a 6% year-over-year gain, with 60% of tested students at or above grade level. She urged the panel to sustain investments because early interventions, she said, are producing measurable declines in the lowest-performing categories.
On math, the department described the Palmetto Math Project's expansion of coaches, OGAP training cohorts and supplemental tools such as Zearn, which Weaver said districts have embraced in pilot sites.
On teacher supports, Weaver reported that the department pilot of a strategic compensation program awarded $2.5 million in year one to 419 teachers (average award roughly $6,200) and requested $5,000,000 to expand the pilot and study retention and performance effects. She also said the department is aligned with the governor on a $2,000 pay bump to raise the minimum starting salary toward the $50,500 mark.
Weaver made school safety a central ask: she described a legislative proposal to create a South Carolina education infrastructure bank to fund capital needs in low-wealth rural districts and charter schools and proposed a voluntary, law-enforcement-certified school safety officer pilot to supplement existing SRO programs.
Committee members pressed for additional detail on program outcomes and oversight. On the Education Scholarship/ESTF program, lawmakers asked where funds are spent and which students participate; Weaver said the department will provide more granular expenditure and participation data and described program safeguards such as an approved-provider marketplace and administrative controls.
The subcommittee did not vote on funding at the hearing; members requested follow-up reports and data breakdowns before appropriations decisions.
What's next: Weaver and agency staff agreed to provide committee members with requested program-level details, a fuller ESTF expenditure breakdown and additional ROI analysis on recruitment and retention initiatives.
