Gov. Nikki Haley this week unveiled her fiscal year 2014-2015 Executive Budget, which calls for K-12 education reform, tax cuts and fixing roads without raising taxes among other highlights.
“This year’s budget builds upon the themes that have been at the core of our priorities from the very beginning – creating jobs and improving the business climate, providing a better education for our children, making our state a safer place to live and work, strengthening our infrastructure without raising taxes, and protecting the most vulnerable members of our society,” said Haley at a press conference.
Her K-12 Education Reform Initiative includes: $97 million for children in poverty; a $29.5 million reading coach program that offers funding for a reading coach in every S.C. public elementary school; and $29.3 million to improve technology access in schools by improving bandwidth in school facilities, bolstering wireless connectivity in schools, and helping to ensure every student has a computer or tablet.
Haley also wants additional tax cuts during the 2014 session that would eliminate the 6 percent bracket and allow that income to be taxed at 5 percent, which would provide three-quarters of filers who have a net income tax liability to save $29 per year. The income tax bracket is between $11,520 and $14,400.
The budget also calls for over $1.35 billion more for roads in the next decade to address state transportation needs, without raising taxes. She proposes that $106.9 million of the expected additional general funds in FY 2014-15 could be used to generate nearly $737 million for major construction projects in addition to $614 million more for maintenance and repair over the next decade by using funds in a combination of bonds and “pay-as-you-go.”
Read Haley’s full Executive Budget.
