South Carolina governor wants to expand pre-K statewide

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Gov. Henry McMaster wants to expand full-day pre-kindergarten for low-income 4-year-olds to every school district across South Carolina.

The program was created in 2006 in response to a lawsuit by poorer, more rural school districts and didn't cover all the districts in the state.

McMaster's $53 million proposal would expand the 4K program to the remaining 17 districts. Several are among South Carolina's largest districts including Beaufort, Charleston, Greenville and Richland District 2, according to The Post and Courier of Charleston.

McMaster told the newspaper the expansion of the 4K program is critical to his efforts to improve education to keep economic development humming in South Carolina.

“Every year we delay is another year of young people who are not going to be able to make it to the first rung of that educational ladder,” McMaster told The Post and Courier. “If they’re not ready when they go to 5K, they’re never going to catch up.”

Several senators and House members praised the Republican governor's proposal. Democratic Sen. Vincent Sheheen of Camden has been pushing for universal pre-kindergarten for years and said it can only improve education across all grades.

Republican Senate Education Committee Chairman Greg Hembree said early investment in education often provides the best results.

“We've got to tackle this upstream,” said Hembree, from Horry County. “We're not going to make quantum leaps in the eighth grade.”

The program provides pre-kindergarten classes to 4-year-olds who qualify for Medicaid because their annual family income is at or below 185% of the federal poverty level. For a family of four, that is $47,638 a year.

The full-day pre-K program was created in 2006 and has been slowly expanded. By...