When Gov. Mark Sanford released his first executive budget last year, it was unlike any that previous governors had proposed. While most were just a few pages long with spending suggestions, Sanford's was the first ever that was detailed enough to actually run state government.
He released his second budget proposal Wednesday, and this one is even more unusual. While most state budgets look only at how to add to or take away from existing agencies' budgets, this one started from scratch.
What every agency does, every service it provides, was broken down and those activities were then ranked. Gov. Sanford's budget proposal would then spend the state's money on what he considers to be the most important activities, spending more on things like education, public safety and health care and cutting other activities.
"I think this budget is about four things--putting our state's fiscal house in order, limiting the future growth of government, setting funding priorities and not raising taxes," Gov. Sanford said.
 Source: Governor Sanford's office Sanford's Full Budget Proposal |
His top priority is education. He proposes raising the base student cost from $1,852 currently to $2,213 next year.
Middle-school math teacher Cliff Barrineau is glad to hear that. He was at a national conference recently, and didn't like what he heard. "South Carolina was near the bottom in comparison to other states in the nation in per-pupil spending. So I'm glad to hear that that's coming down the pipe now. I think that is crucially important that we do that and put more dollars in education at the classroom level," he says.
Besides the extra money going to education, Gov. Sanford wants to give local school districts more flexibility in spending $200 million of the money they already get. If they want to continue spending it the same way they already are, that would be fine. But if they want to use it in a different way to focus on a particular need or problem, they would have more flexibility to do that.
But another of his ideas might not be so well-received. Right now, a teacher that attains national board certification gets an annual bonus of $7,500. The governor would cut that to $3,000. A teacher could still get the $7,500, but only by teaching in an area with critical needs.
He points out that in California and New York, nationally-board-certified teachers are awarded bonuses only if they teach in low-performing schools. Illinois has a two-tier approach similar to what Sanford is proposing, with a $3,000 bonus for all nationally-certified teachers, and another $3,000 going to those in critical needs areas.
"I think it makes a lot of sense," the governor says. "Because what it is fundamentally about is saying we have limited resources, and let's put them in the places where they'll make the biggest impact. Our current policy does not do that."
Barrineau achieved national board certification two years ago. He says he can see both sides of the argument--it should provide an incentive for some teachers to move to areas where they're needed, but it may also discourage others from trying to become nationally certified.
It's a lengthy process to get that national board certification, requiring teachers to document and videotape what and how they teach. Barrineau says there's no question in his mind that going through the process has made him a better teacher.
"It causes you to question everything that you're doing. Why are you giving this homework assignment? What is your intent in the kids doing this assignment or the students doing this assignment?"
The governor's budget is balanced and calls for no tax increases. It also calls for paying down state debts and replenishing state reserve accounts and trust funds that have been raided in recent years.
Besides adding $100 million to education, the governor's proposal would add $54 million to public safety, mainly to hire 425 new officers.
It raises the additional money, for the most part, by proposing over $162 million in specific savings, and that's where much of the fight against the proposal will take place.
For example, he proposes to phase out over three years both USC-Union and USC-Salkehatchie. He would also cut one percent from the budgets of Clemson, USC and MUSC, for a total of $3.1 million, to encourage them to eliminate duplicate programs.
House Speaker David Wilkins of Greenville said of the governor's budget proposal, "I applaud the governor for the obvious work and attention he devoted to his executive budget. It contains some solid ideas for reducing spending and slowing the growth of government, concepts long supported by the House."