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Tag: Education

SC Lt. Gov. attends event giving results of campaign to fight childhood hunger
By Tyler Scott, originally published Jun. 22, 2025 by FOX Carolina

GREENVILLE, S.C. (FOX Carolina) – South Carolina Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evette joined with AFL, a global leader in fiber optic technology, in Greenville to announce the results from its employee-driven charitable campaign to combat childhood hunger in the Upstate.

AFL is an international manufacturer providing end-to-end solutions to the energy, service provider, enterprise, hyperscale and industrial markets.

The company presented a ceremonial check in a total amount of $1,422,000 to United Way of the Piedmont at an event at the Greenville Drive Stadium at Fluor Field.

Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette to address ‘policy priorities’ at Charleston town hall on Wednesday

by Ian Kayanja, originally posted June 9, 2025 by ABC News 4

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — South Carolina’s Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette plans to visit Charleston on Wednesday to speak at a town hall hosted by America’s Future Trust.

Evette, though not formally announced, has mulled a gubernatorial run, holding town halls throughout the Palmetto State. Wednesday’s event will have Evette answer questions related to America’s Future Trust policy priorities while reserving time for questions submitted by attendees.

The visit to Charleston marks the second visit to one of South Carolina’s coastal communities in less than a week.

On Tuesday, June 3, Evette held a town hall in Myrtle Beach, where she emphasized the importance of expanding school vouchers, eliminating the state income tax, and leveraging artificial intelligence to enhance government efficiency.

During that town hall, the Lieutenant Governor also shared her support for the state to send more support to technical colleges to promote building upon the need for stronger cybersecurity and a blue-collar workforce.

It can be expected that Evette will field similar questions at Wednesday’s event.

Evette and South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster have worked closely with the Trump administration during their tenure. McMaster was sworn in as Governor in 2017 following former Gov. Nikki Haley’s appointment as Ambassador to the United Nations, and Evette was elected Lt. Gov. in November 2018. Both McMaster and Evette were re-elected to four-year terms in 2022.

One of the most recent Republican polls on the state of the would-be 2026 gubernatorial field found that among likely candidates, Evette leads with 31 percent of the vote, according to data from the Trafalgar Group.

Not far behind was Rep. Nancy Mace, claiming 29 percent of would-be voters, who has ramped up her direct attacks on Evette in recent weeks.

Mace is also mulling a run at governor of South Carolina, and recently, the three-term congressmember claimed Evette is an “empty suit” and an outsider from Ohio.

Evette, in turn, has brushed off Mace’s attacks.

No candidate has formally announced their gubernatorial run.

Wednesday’s town hall will begin at 5:45 p.m. and run until 7:15 p.m. Doors for the event open at 5:15 p.m.

It will be held at Henry’s On The Market and moderated by Joe Semsar, the former under secretary of Commerce for International Trade.

South Carolina Lede: Grand Strand with Pam

by Gavin Jackson, originally published June 7, 2025 on SC Public Radio

On this episode of the South Carolina Lede for June 7, 2025: state Democrats got a boost with a big special election House seat win; Lt. Gov. Pam Evette continues to test the waters; we look at some of the ramifications of the tariffs on businesses in our region; and more!

Click HERE to Listen Now

Evette touts workforce development, Trump ties in Myrtle Beach ahead of possible gubernatorial run

by Adam Benson, originally posted by WBTW News 2 June 4, 2025

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW) — Pamela Evette is among the handful of big-name Republicans whose names are tied to next year’s gubernatorial race, and she spent time in Myrtle Beach on Monday touting her record of success.

The Ohio native has been in office since 2019, when Gov. Henry McMaster selected her as a running mate.

Evette hasn’t formally said whether she’s planning a run for the state’s highest office, but has been linked to the job along with other contenders, including U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace and South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson.

Mace, in particular, has launched attacks against both.

“Gov. McMaster has said that I’m the best lieutenant governor in the country. President Trump said I was doing a great job, so I’ll take their compliments over Nancy Mace’s criticisms any day,” Evette said following a town hall meeting at Veterans Cafe and Grille. “I’m going to continue to do what I do. I’m going to help business, I’m going to work on school choice.”

Evette said she hasn’t yet committed to running for governor, but hinted at the likelihood as she spoke with reporters.

“Now that session is over, this is the time to start to think about what’s going to happen but I do believe this legacy that the governor and I have had does need to continue on. I think it’s been very successful, and it’s worked very well for the people of South Carolina.”

Earlier in the night, Evette said building up technical college systems is the best way to build an employee pipeline for manufacturers.

“We can do better creating a workforce for tomorrow, and we can do that by ‘let’s start reappropriating some of this money going to big colleges, and let’s give it to our technical college system,’” she said. “It is something that I’ve been talking about for the seven years that I’ve been in office.”

Lt. Gov. Evette at Myrtle Beach town hall ahead of possible run for SC governor

by Andrew James, originally posted June 3, 2025 by ABC 15 News

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WPDE) — Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evette fielded questions in front of Myrtle Beach residents during a town hall meeting on Tuesday night.

Although Evette has not officially announced her candidacy for South Carolina Governor, discussions within the county and state Republican Party suggest she may be considering a bid to succeed Henry McMaster.

Evette, who has served as lieutenant governor for nearly seven years following a career in accounting, shared her vision for South Carolina’s future.

She emphasized the importance of expanding school vouchers, eliminating the state income tax, and leveraging artificial intelligence to enhance government efficiency.

“We are now competing against those other states, Tennessee, Florida, and Texas. They’ve done it. We can do it. We’re going to implement DOGE here in South Carolina,” Evette said. “We can cut taxes and be more efficient, and we’ve got to take a broad, comprehensive look at taxes in general.”

A majority of the town hall involved Evette’s views on Trump’s policies and whether she would support seeing those practices on the state level. Evette envisioned a push for more government efficiency and suggested lawmakers set sunset dates on all state regulations required to be reformed after a certain threshold of time for every regulation at the state level.

“We’re never going to be able to hire enough people to outpace the growth we have in our state,” Evette said. “If you do things more efficiently, there’s more money at the end of the month.”

Evette also shared her support for the state to send more support to technical colleges to promote building upon the need for stronger cybersecurity and a blue-collar workforce.

“When we do that, we’re going to see educational outcomes soar,” Evette said. “When you have hope, nothing will stop you. And that’s what I see. That’s what I’m excited about. That’s what I like to talk about.”

The town hall event was not part of Evette’s formal schedule as lieutenant governor. She is expected to return to Myrtle Beach later this week for the 10th Annual Carolina Country Music Fest this weekend.

Potential South Carolina governor candidate weighs in on judicial reform, government efficiency

By Matthew Christian, originally posted by the Aiken Standard on May 28, 2025

AIKEN — A potential Republican gubernatorial nominee supports changes to how most judges are elected in the Palmetto State and efforts to make South Carolina’s government more efficient.

Lt. Governor Pamela Evette was asked about both topics during a question-and-answer session at a May 27 Aiken Republican Republican Club meeting at Newberry Hall.

“Do you support changing the election of judges by the legislature and can it be done in South Carolina,” an anonymous person asked Evette via an index card.

The 170-member South Carolina General Assembly elects South South Carolina Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, Circuit Court and Family Court judges. The governor nominates and the Senate confirms magistrate judges and masters-in-equity. Probate court judges are elected by popular vote.

Evette said she supported a system in which the Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, Circuit Court and Family Court judges would be nominated by the governor and confirmed by the Senate.

“The governor should appoint and the Senate should confirm and when you do that it pretty much falls on the back of of one person,” Evette continued.

If implemented in the Palmetto State, the nomination-and-confirmation process would mirror how federal judges are selected.

“Like the governor has said… I believe the federal system is really, really good,” Evette said.

There are concerns that the lawyer-legislators serving in the South Carolina General Assembly — in 2023, 46% of the state’s senators and 27% of the state’s representatives were lawyers — could slow or stall the process to preserve the current system.

“Well, we said tort reform couldn’t be done, but it got done this year,” Evette continued. “So, I think anything can happen.”

Another anonymous question writer asked Evette about the Trump administration’s efforts to prevent illegal immigrants from receiving Medicaid.

“Medicaid was never meant to give to non-U.S. citizens and that’s what they’re stopping,” Evette said.

Evette added that she’s a huge fan of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.

“I’m an accountant by trade for all of you who don’t know,” Evette said.

Evette and her husband, David, founded Quality Business Solutions, an Upstate firm that helps businesses with accounting and human resources.

“I used to call it efficiency when I was in public accounting,” Evette said. “I worked with companies to learn how to be efficient… and utilize the money that they had to grow their businesses. That’s what President Trump is doing now. That’s what Elon Musk is doing now.”

The state of South Carolina is constitutionally mandated to have a balanced budget — expenses are equal to revenues — unlike the federal government, Evette continued. And the state’s rainy day fund is as big as it’s ever been, she added.

“I don’t believe that we are sending money to foreign entities to do Sesame Street and some weird language that I don’t even know,” Evette said.

The U.S. Agency for International Development provided $20 million to fund an Iraqi version of the popular children’s program, Musk said earlier this year. The DOGE team has eliminated that grant but there are still several legal challenges to DOGE’s actions ongoing.

“But can we be more efficient? Yes,” Evette said. “The best of companies will tell you they can always run more efficiently. Should we leverage AI? Should we leverage technology? Absolutely we should. Because that’s how you save money.”

Making the state more efficient is part of the path to lower and eliminate the state’s income tax rates, Evette said.

“I have said forever, I want to see South Carolina be a zero-state income tax state,” she added. “But you have to be able to do that by being efficient, right? You have to be able to walk and chew your gum at the same time.”

Evette is one of several candidates considering a bid for the 2026 Republican nomination.

Other potential candidates include S.C. Sens. Sean Bennett and Josh Kimbrell, U.S. Reps. Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman, and S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson.

Filing for the nomination will open next March. The primary and any needed runoffs will be held next June.

Aiken will be the home of the ‘greatest single investment’ for the SC National Guard

By Carl Dawson, originally published May 27, 2025 by Aiken Standard

AIKEN — Ground was ceremonially broken May 27 on the campus of USC Aiken for the S.C. National Guard Cyber Integration Center and Readiness Center, two facilities costing a total of nearly $45 million.

Maj. Gen. Robin Stillwell, adjutant general of the S.C. National Guard, called it “the greatest single investment in one location in the history of the South Carolina National Guard.”

“That’s a big deal, but really the biggest deal about all of this is the investment that we are making with our collaborators and our partners here today,” Stillwell said, listing local, state and federal authorities, members of the Department of Defense and other federal entities, USCA and other academic institutions.

“This project promises to be a platform for human and technological advancement focused on education, workforce development and prototyping. It also promises to be a platform into the future, nested in national security priorities,” he said.

“We are very excited across the river that this extension of the energy across the CSRA is happening,” said Maj. Gen. Ryan Janovic, commanding officer of Fort Eisenhower in Augusta and of the U.S. Army Cyber Center of Excellence located there. He said $1.4 billion in construction is underway at Fort Eisenhower.

“Never do we think about the building as something unto itself. It’s always about the team within it. The building and its network and team and the innovative spirit that happens within the walls of these types of facilities are the magic,” Janovic said.

He called the cross-border collaboration “something unique and something that is significantly contributing to our national security.”

The CSRA is rapidly emerging as a hub for cybersecurity and STEM development, with Aiken and USC Aiken playing an integral role in this transformation through “leveraging the power of proximity” with its centralized location bridging cyber assets in Georgia, to the midlands, the upstate and the coast of South Carolina, said Dr. Daniel Heimmermann, chancellor of USC Aiken.

“As we know, the menace of cyberattacks is undeterred by state boundaries or geographical features like rivers, or the gates of a university or college,” he said. “As is true of the mission of this university, the South Carolina National Guard facilities that we celebrate today are truly regional and national assets that will be a service to us all.”

He said the projects are the culmination of more than a decade of work and collaboration between the S.C. National Guard, USC Aiken, political leaders and others, and that more than $145 million was being invested in regional cybersecurity assets.

“The goals that have inspired the key partnerships between USC Aiken and the S.C. National Guard and the Savannah River National Laboratory and others very much align with the national priorities in areas such as advanced manufacturing, cyber protection of our critical infrastructure, AI, energy resilience and grid protection,” Heimmermann said.

“USCA’s partnership with the guard’s Cyber Integration Center will synergize the opportunity for accelerated economic growth, educational opportunities and workforce development,” he said.

“The governor and I … are very excited to see what is happening here. Thank you to all our partners in the statehouse for seeing how critical this all is,” said S.C. Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette.

“The governor and I have been very forward focused on looking at what is going to be the workforce of tomorrow, and how do we continue to inspire young minds to know that these are the careers that we need?” she said.

Evette called the project “another example of how here in South Carolina we communicate, we collaborate, and we cooperate together to get great things done.”

S.C. Sen. Tom Young, R-Aiken, said teamwork by the legislative delegation and the leadership of Aiken County government leadership secured the funding for the project in June 2022.

“Our delegation is so proud that we could be part of this game-changing investment that will bring cyber security opportunities and workforce development to generations of South Carolinians and people in this region for years to come,” Young said.

“This cyber issue couldn’t be more important. We recognize now that sadly we are in a war that we did not choose,” said U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C. “We have to face it.”

“With this in mind, for peace through strength, this command is going to be so important,” Wilson said.

“We live in an idyllic community, but Aiken is not immune,” said S.C. Rep. Bill Taylor, R-Aiken, listing the Savannah River Site, the Savannah River National Lab, the SRS Plutonium Pit Production Facility, Meta and AGY as likely targets of cyberattack.

“Thankfully, the South Carolina National Guard Cyber Integration Center will help protect our nation, our state, the critical infrastructure and all of the businesses that I just talked about,” Taylor said “The partnership and the collaboration with USC Aiken, SRS and the business community will pay dividends for decades to come.”

One-on-one with Lieutenant Governor Evette

Published May 19, 2025 by Fox Carolina

South Carolina Lieutenant Governor Evette sits down with Fox Carolina’s Justin Dougherty to discuss important issues happening in our state and a possible run for governor.

WATCH NOW

$19M early childhood education center being constructed in Spartanburg County

By Chris Lavender. Originally posted by The Post & Courier Spartanburg on May 8, 2025

DUNCAN — A $19 million early childhood education facility will soon take shape, providing additional resources in a rapidly growing section of Spartanburg County.

On schedule to open in August 2026, the 44,500-square-foot Middle Tyger Education Center at 101 S. Danzler Road will sit across from Duncan Elementary School.

The project is possible through a partnership involving SEW Eurodrive, Spartanburg County School District 5, Spartanburg Academic Movement, Middle Tyger Community Center and the S.C. General Assembly.

The school district donated 13 acres for the new center.

Lt. Gov. Pam Evette stopped on May 7 at SEW Eurodrive in Wellford to speak on the new center and efforts statewide to boost early childhood education.

“There’s also a lot of work gone into providing school choice, and education remains a top priority in South Carolina,” Evette said. “The new center for early childhood education being developed for this community at large will be a template and model, and I am hoping to talk about it all over the state with other businesses.”

The new center will have 17 classrooms and serve up to 260 children ages 6 weeks through 4K. The new center will create 25 jobs.

Middle Tyger Community Center Executive Director Haley Grau told The Post and Courier the new center will help expand the district’s current model.

“We want to make sure that we can keep serving children and provide high-quality child care,” Grau said. “This is going to be incredible for our workforce. We just want to make sure people can work and have child care.”

The average cost for child care annually in the area is about $14,000 annually or $300 per week. The new center is expected to alleviate the financial strain of child care on families in the region.

SEW Eurodrive is among the project’s supporters. The company is a global private industry that manufactures gearboxes.

“SEW Eurodrive is proud to invest in the future of this community by supporting the Middle Tyger Education Center,” said Rainer Blickle, vice president of SEW Eurodrive USA. “We believe strongly in the mission of MTCC and in the power of early education to uplift families. This project will have a lasting impact not only for our employees’ families, but for the broader economic and social health of the region.”

Former state Rep. Rita Allison, who attended a media conference at SEW Eurodrive, spoke about the new center’s innovative partnership.

“The center is going to be an economic development tool,” Allison said. “There are so many places in our state that need this model with the school district, Middle Tyger Community Center and businesses coming together with all their talents.”

The site at the corner of East Main Street and South Danzler has been cleared of trees for the new center, and construction should start in late 2025.

Grau said children with disabilities and living in poverty are prioritized in the center’s child care program enrollment process. The two-story facility will also include space for future expansion and playgrounds.

Spartanburg Academic Movement has committed $500,000 for the project. Grau said the General Assembly earmarked $3.5 million for the project.

World’s largest rubber duck makes splash in Myrtle Beach

By Haleigh West. Originally posted by ABC 15 News WPDE on May 8, 2025

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WPDE) — You’re one lucky duck if you’re in Myrtle Beach this weekend, because you have the chance to see the world’s largest rubber duck!

Measuring in at 60 feet tall, known as “Mama Duck,” this is her first visit to South Carolina. Although the YMCA of Coastal Carolina said she was created right outside of Hilton Head.

She waddles around the country, making quite the splash to promote National Water Safety Month.

After Thursday morning’s hour-long inflation, Myrtle Beach Mayor Brenda Bethune and South Carolina Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evette said we can help prevent drowning, especially when the weather warms up.

“And we’re sitting on the beautiful beaches, the Intracoastal, and a city pool, or our own pool, everybody together, keep your eyes up, put your phones down. Because it takes all of us to keep our children and our friends safe,” said Lt. Gov Pamela Evette.

If you are walking through the Burroughs and Chapin pavilion, you’ll see signs with water safety tips and a QR code for resources. Mama Duck will inflate every morning between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m., and you can visit on Thursday, Friday and Saturday until 8 p.m. and until 3 p.m. on Sunday.