Palmetto Promise Institute – A Force For Good

2004 was the first time I ever got involved in a U.S. Senate primary campaign. I was excited with the prospect of electing then 3rd District Rep. Jim DeMint (R-Greenville), who supported the FairTax and reforming Social Security. DeMint won a hard-fought primary over former Govenor David Beasley and some other good candidates and handily defeated Inez Tenenbaum in the general election.
As the Tea Party movement ramped up in 2009, DeMint published the book Saving Freedom, which exposed both political parties for favoring special interests and expanding the power of the federal government. He wrote that average Americans would have to make their voices heard in large numbers if we wanted to reverse the creep toward European-style socialism.
Even as the Tea Party movement gained traction and propelled the Republicans to retake control of the House in 2010, Sen. DeMint grew more disillusioned by the leaders in the Republican Party, who seemed to be tone deaf about the reasons for the 2010 electoral tsunami. He resigned from the Senate after the 2012 election to become President of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.
DeMint was in Charleston last week for a presentation by the Palmetto Promise Institute, a state policy group he helped fund with his leftover Senate campaign funds. “We’re not going to change things from Washington,” DeMint said. “The solutions are going to have to come from the states and the local communities. America is built from the ground up!”
The Palmetto Promise Institute (PPI) is run by Ellen Weaver, a longtime DeMint staffer in Congress. PPI operates out of a small office in Columbia and collaborates with other state policy groups researching policies and programs that work, with a focus on economic growth and improvements in education.
On the education front, PPI supports less bureaucracy and more autonomy for schools, with more money going directly to schools on a per pupil basis and more leeway for Principals to spend the money to best meet the needs of their students. For accountability, PPI wants to see an emphasis on tracking individual student growth from year to year. It also wants to expand competition for student enrollment.
Spending clearly isn’t the reason for poor performance in so many South Carolina public schools. When you factor in federal, state and local funding, South Carolina spends an average of $11,766 per student. In Charleston County, that figure is more than $16,000 per student ($10,000 of which comes from local property taxes).
After researching successful programs in Arizona and Florida, PPI supports Education Savings Accounts, which would transfer 90% of the average per pupil spending for a student into an education account controlled by the parents (with oversight by state auditors). The money could be used for private tutors, software, homeschool supplies or private school tuition. The PPI recommends piloting the program for students enrolled in low-performing schools.
A big economic growth opportunity supported by PPI is offshore drilling for oil and natural gas. The rigs would be more than 50 miles offshore in the outer continental shelf. Research shows that offshore drilling would lead to more than $46,000 high-paying jobs by 2035. Learn more at www.OffshoreOpportunity.com.
Another emphasis at PPI is reforming Medicaid, which provides medical services for low income residents. South Carolina is among the 22 states which did not expand the income threshold to enroll in Medicaid. PPI asserts that adding 250,000 people to the Medicaid rolls would give enrollees less access to care because of the low reimbursement rates given to doctors and hospitals. PPI wants South Carolina Medicaid enrollees to have access to private sector medical plans, which has been successfully tested in Florida.
“South Carolina has unlimited potential,” Weaver said. “We have wonderful people and a wonderful culture. There are many things we can do as a state to maximize the opportunities for our people.”
It is great to have people and organizations with the vision and passion to take on the status quo. If we keep doing things the same way, we’ll keep getting the same results. I encourage you to learn more about PPI by visiting www.PalmettoPromise.org.
John Steinberger is the former chairman of the Charleston County Republican Party,
a leading Fair Tax advocate, and a West Ashley resident. He can be reached at John.steinberger@scfairtax.org.