South Carolina Statehouse Blog

Richland County Lawmaker Calls on the General Assembly to Stop Stalling and Get To Work on Budget

Columbia, SC - Representative Anton Gunn issued a statement voicing his opposition to a House and Senate Conference Plan that cuts $104 million from public education and lays off 1,700 teachers.

“I cannot support a budget report that eliminates 1,700 teaching jobs in our state. Cutting $100 million from our schools and taking education back to 1995 levels is an irresponsible way to educate our children. This is our future we are dealing with here. The children, teachers and parents of our state deserve better,” Gunn said.

The House and Senate Conference Committee has agreed on a $5 billion budget plan that drastically cuts public education, eliminates 74 state jobs and 1,700 jobs in local school districts. The budget also enacts major cuts to rural hospitals and health centers, while reducing access to prescription drugs for poor and disabled children. The budget plan makes drastic cuts to major state agencies yet the proposal also adds $3 million and $7 million to the House & Senate operating budgets.

Rep. Gunn said, “I think it’s immoral to force teachers into layoffs and deny disabled children access to medications but at the same time pad your own budget with extra money. This budget plan is going in the wrong direction. We need to fix this mess.”

Gunn also called on the legislature to stop stalling on the budget proposal and asked that the legislature finish its work on time. Lawmakers passed a Sine Die resolution to end the legislative session on Thursday, June 3rd at 5pm but after wasting several hours “standing at ease,” Republican leaders attempted to pass a resolution that would extend the legislative session beyond the agreed upon June 3rd deadline. Gunn and several other lawmakers plan to vote against any measure to extend the session indefinetly.

“We need to do our jobs and pass a budget by June 3rd. The people of South Carolina didn’t send us to Columbia to waste time “standing at ease” when we should be hammering out a responsible budget on time. We need to stop stalling and get our work done now.” said Gunn.