Executive Director (Director) Floyd appeared before the Senate Finance Transportation and Regulatory Subcommittee and requested approximately $1.9 million in recurring state funds for the Department of Employment and Workforce (DEW) and presented a separate funding request on behalf of the Coordinating Council for Workforce Development (CCWD) for a statewide education-and-workforce portal.

Floyd said DEW is primarily federally funded and that state funding is needed to cover the FY25 and FY26 portions of recently approved across-the-board raises and to limit turnover by rewarding high-performing staff. “Our request is approximately $1,900,000 recurring,” Floyd told senators; he said about $1.1 million would cover state-share costs for prior and current general salary increases and about $770,000 would fund targeted retention and high-performance awards.

Why this matters: Floyd said DEW relies largely on federal grants and that without state funding for salary increases the agency must stretch federal dollars to cover state pay actions, which he said is not sustainable. He said retention incentives would be used for staff with “exemplary” performance, documented contributions to agency goals and cost savings.

On behalf of the CCWD, Floyd introduced a feasibility study and funding request for a central portal to integrate education and workforce information from multiple agencies and private-sector sources. Floyd said the portal aims to give students, educators, employers and jobseekers a single front door for career pathways, training options and real-time labor-market information.

Carlton McArthur of Gartner Consulting summarized the firm’s feasibility study and recommended a phased, multi-year approach. “It is feasible for the state to move forward with developing an integrated education and workforce portal to help you achieve compliance with act 67,” McArthur said. Gartner surveyed more than 400 respondents, interviewed 10 stakeholder groups and examined other states’ efforts. The firm found more than 40 separate websites and portals currently provide related information and recommended a three- to four-year phased rollout starting in FY26 to reduce implementation risk.

Funding and timeline specifics presented to the committee include:
- A CCWD request for $10,300,000 in nonrecurring funds to procure technology and systems integration and $2,800,000 in recurring funds for administration and maintenance;
- A Gartner estimate of $22 million to $31 million total cost of ownership over five years for a phased implementation (jobs/careers/training in an early phase, education interfaces in a later phase);
- A multi-phase schedule with procurement and foundational work in FY26, initial jobs/careers/training functionality in FY27 and education integration in FY28.

McArthur said the portal would integrate existing sites — including SC.gov endpoints — but be distinct because it would combine state, education and private-sector job listings and provide personalized, career-planning tools, real-time labor-market data and veteran resources. He compared the user experience to a travel aggregator: a single query would return multiple, comparable options rather than having to visit many siloed pages.

Senators asked whether SC.gov already provides this capability; McArthur and Floyd said SC.gov covers state-government services but not the broader set of private-sector job postings and education-to-career pathways the portal would link. Floyd confirmed that the House had funded the CCWD request: when asked, he said, “They did.”

Floyd also described three DEW provisos in the budget materials: a date update, an expanded ability to care for state funds, and an exemption for DEW state-funded programs from mandated across-the-board reductions. He said the CCWD is collaborative and includes employers, education leaders and state agencies.

Next steps: The subcommittee heard the presentations and asked questions; no formal votes were taken. Floyd said he would provide committee members additional details comparing the proposed portal’s functionality with SC.gov. If funded, the portal would proceed by procurement and phased implementation over several fiscal years.