Philip Cease, director of governmental affairs for the South Carolina Department of Education, told the House Education and Public Works Committee that the department has adopted a strategic plan with a “moonshot” goal to raise the share of students at or above grade level and four three‑year objectives focusing on instructional quality, career pathways, school culture and community engagement.

Cease said the legislature previously funded nearly $40 million to provide high‑quality professional learning in the Science of Reading, with an expectation that by the 2025–26 school year every K‑3 teacher will have completed LETRS training. He said roughly 20,000 teachers are either in the pipeline or have completed the coursework and that a stipend is available for teachers who finish.

He described the Palmetto Math Project as a statewide expansion of earlier literacy work; the department ran a pilot funded by the General Assembly and will seek additional funding for math materials. Cease also outlined the Read to Succeed 2 retention changes: he said that, under the statute as written, 16,238 third graders would have been “eligible for retention” last year absent other remedies such as summer reading camps.

Cease summarized a model cell‑phone policy (branded “Free to Focus”) that the State Board of Education was required to adopt under an appropriations proviso; local districts were required to adopt a policy or risk loss of classroom funding. The model defines “access” broadly (viewing, holding, wearing or otherwise using an electronic device during the school day), permits local exceptions (IEP, health devices, volunteer first responders) and leaves enforcement details to districts. Cease said districts have chosen different storage approaches (backpacks, lockers, pouches) and the department posted handbooks, FAQs and resources on its website.

On the department’s budget request, Cease listed top lines: a $200 million recurring request to raise starting teacher pay to $50,000 (approximately $3,000 across the pay scale), $20 million recurring and $95 million nonrecurring for high‑quality instructional materials (math and ELA), $13 million for a CTE Rural Renaissance program, expanded funding for summer reading camps and a $100 million recurring ask for a rural infrastructure bank to help school and charter facilities with renovations and safety upgrades. Cease said the department has invested roughly $1.6 billion in new state funds since 2018–19, most recently a $328 million investment that largely went to teacher pay increases.