Executive budget focuses on taxes and education.

S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster's executive budget, proposed today, includes tax exemptions for veterans, a 5% raise for teachers, more than $63 million to bolster S.C.'s technical schools and $5 million for new voting machines.

The governor's budget (.pdf) includes retirement income tax exemptions for military veterans and first responders and proposes $200 million in tax relief in the form of a one-time, pro-rata tax rebate.

"My 2019-20 executive budget sends $200 million dollars back to the taxpayers in the form of a one-time rebate check," McMaster said in a budget cover letter. "Surpluses in state government revenues don't mean we have to spend it all; a surplus means prioritizing the most critical needs in state government and returning whatever we can back to the taxpayers."

The 2019-20 executive budget would also bring S.C.'s average teacher salary to $53,185 and provide $100 million in infrastructure funding, invested by the S.C. Department of Commerce, for the state's poorest school districts.

The budget also proposes a freeze on in-state tuition increases at state colleges, universities and technical schools in exchange for a 6% increase in institutions' annual budgets.

Another $46 million would be set aside to allocate a school resource officer to every school in the state in addition to a mental health counselor.

S.C. teachers have advocated for better pay and funding amid an ongoing teacher shortage. Data from the state'sCenter for Education Recruitment, Retention and Advancementshows that more than 6,500 teachers left their positions at the end of the 2016-17 school year. While more than 25% of those took other teaching positions, around 4,900 38% of whom had five or fewer years of classroom experience no longer teach in S.C. public schools.

"The time has come to provide teachers with compensation that is competitive not only in the Southeast but across the nation to enhance the recruitment of promising young teachers and keep our talented teachers in the classroom," McMaster's cover letter said.

The proposed investment in S.C. technical...