There’s a chill in the air and a hush in the chambers of the State House. We anticipate a quiet week in the South Carolina General Assembly as supporters of President Donald Trump take time to celebrate the inauguration.
The state House and Senate are planning a “pro forma” schedule for this week, meaning they don’t plan to advance legislation on the floor. There’s work to be done while the politicians are away.
With the first week of the two-year legislative session complete, we’re bringing back the State House Dispatch. Check back at the start of each week for a preview of committee hearings, floor debates, and opportunities to raise your voice at the state capital. (For a big-picture forecast of this session, see our blog post from last week or check out Episode 11 of the While I Breathe podcast.)
School privatization in the works
The Senate spent most of its first week discussing a bill (S. 62) that would use public funds to subsidize private and religious K-12 schools. Private school vouchers have a proven track record in other states of excluding students with disabilities, wrecking state budgets, financing schools that discriminate against LGBTQ+ and nonreligious students, and hampering academic progress on a scale comparable to a natural disaster.
We know that private school vouchers like the “Education Scholarship Trust Fund” are broadly unpopular because voters have rejected them every time they’ve been put to a referendum, including in Kentucky last year. With Senate floor debate paused, this is a good week for lawmakers to hear from their constituents. Our friends at the South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center have set up a page to help you contact your state senator, including some suggested language for an email.
For more information about the pitfalls of private school vouchers, check out our blog post “The ugly truth about school vouchers,” Episode 12 of the podcast, and our bill page for S. 62.
A juvenile justice emergency
Advocates have been sounding the alarm about horrifying conditions and mistreatment of children in South Carolina's Department of Juvenile Justice for years. Last week, The Post and Courier brought to light a new federal lawsuit detailing a “litany of abuse” against a teenager with a history of suicide attempts who was caged in solitary confinement for days at a time.
People who work with children in DJJ facilities are all too familiar with horror stories. That’s why we represent the South Carolina NAACP, Disability Rights South Carolina, and Justice 360 in an ongoing lawsuit demanding that DJJ provide a humane, sanitary, and rehabilitative environment for the children in its care.
Meanwhile the Legislature must act to protect these children. Our Legislation page includes several juvenile justice reform bills we support:
- H. 3655 would end the practice of placing juveniles in “secure confinement” in adult jails for more than 6 hours.
- H. 3595 would create pretrial diversion courts for juveniles who commit certain first-time, nonviolent status offenses (that is, acts that are only illegal because of a person’s age) or “delinquent acts.”
- S. 16, a status offense reform bill, would move the state away from using adult punitive actions against children.
As a constituent, you can ask your lawmakers to add their names onto bills that you support. This is a crucial way to build momentum for good policy proposals. If you aren’t sure who represents you in the state House and Senate, go to scstatehouse.gov and use the “Find Your Legislators” tool to find their names and contact information.
New ideas in education
NOTE: This meeting has been canceled. The bills mentioned below are still active and may be taken up for committee debate at a later date.
While the full House and Senate will not take up debate on any bills, some of the legislative committees have scheduled meetings this week. The Senate Education Committee was originally scheduled to meet Wednesday, January 22 at 10 a.m. in Gressette Room 105 to consider these bills:
- S. 77, which would require local school boards to provide the public with either a video livestream of their meetings or a recorded video after every full board meeting.
- S. 78, which would direct the State Department of Education to award credit for work experience in a relevant field when considering an application for a teaching certificate.
- S. 79, which would start a pilot program allowing school districts to hire noncertified teachers for up to 10% of teaching staff.
- S. 169, which would allow people to use debit cards to purchase lottery tickets. The bill’s sponsor has pitched this idea to shore up dwindling S.C. Education Lottery revenues as the Senate prepares to siphon off funds from it for private K-12 schools (see the voucher bill S. 62). Currently the lottery funds in-state scholarships for higher education.
Become an advocate this year
Do you need a quick-start guide or a refresher course on advocacy in the State House and beyond? ACLU-SC staff members are hosting a virtual Advocacy 101 training on Thursday, January 30 from 7 – 8 p.m. Register here to attend.
No matter who sits in the White House and no matter what lawmakers try to throw at us this year, they’ll have to get through us first. To quote our Senior Advocacy Strategist Courtney Thomas, “Advocacy is a team sport. If you need a friend to hang with on your first (or fiftieth) visit to the state house, we’re here.”
We mean it. See y’all soon.
