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The Jim Self Center on the Future serves South Carolina by promoting awareness of important policy issues and trends facing the state.
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Publication Taxing services(2010-01) Ulbrich, Holley H.; Jim Self Center on the FutureThis policy brief discusses the taxation of service industries in South Carolina and the rest of the country.Publication Local governments and home rule in South Carolina : a citizen's guide(2011-05-09)This booklet is intended to help South Carolina’s local officials and citizens understand the powers that local governments may exercise under the state constitution and legislative acts of the General Assembly. It also describes some of the limitations on those powers that have been enacted by the General Assembly.Publication Taxation of internet and catalog sales(2010-06-30) Jim Self Center on the Future; Ulbrich, Holley H.This policy brief discusses taxing taxing Internet and catalog sales.Publication Understanding "poor" performance : Palmetto Achievement Challenge Test (PACT) scores and poverty(2001-07-25) Hawkins, H. Gregory; Jim Self Center on the FutureThis report briefly reviews the movement toward standardized testing systems and the relationship between student poverty and test performance, followed by a presentation of school-level performance on the Palmetto Achievement Challenge Test (PACT) in South Carolina that accounts for the effects of poverty. It concludes with a set of policy implications and recommendations.Publication State transportation funding trends and comparative state assessment : executive summary(2002-12-31) Jim Self Center on the FutureThis report summarizes trends in state revenues used for highways from the FHWA annual publication Highway Statistics, and other sources. It also provides rankings of the states by the percentage of own-source state revenue in 2000 that came from individual revenue sources such as motor fuel taxes, motor vehicle registration and carrier fees, and state general funds. Detailed revenue and expenditure trends for South Carolina and all states combined are compiled for every five years between 1965 and 2000. These statistics are presented on the basis of total dollars, percentage share of total, dollars per capita, dollars per million vehicle miles traveled, and dollars per state-maintained road mile. Additional statistics are presented for the southeastern states for the year 2000.Publication Recycling industry cluster strategic plan 2010(2012-08-17) Jim Self Center on the FutureThe basis of the Recycling Industry Cluster Strategic Plan rests on stakeholder analysis of the issues and opportunities facing South Carolina’s recycling industry. By combining the input of the recycling industry stakeholders, the examination of industry trends, applicable law and individual case studies, along with proposed recommendations, the plan is intended to serve as a guide for how and what the cluster should most appropriately and effectively focus on in the future.Publication High school dropouts : report on Greenwood County and South Carolina(2005-07-11) Long, Harold L.; Jim Self Center on the FutureThis paper discusses the dropout problem in South Carolina and in particular Greenwood County.Publication Principles of a good revenue system(2010-06) Ulbrich, Holley H.; Jim Self Center on the FutureEvery state has a revenue system, which consists of the sources tapped to fund state and local public services. Ideally, public policy should be concerned with the design of the system as a whole, rather than focusing on one particular tax at a time. At the heart of the revenue system is the tax code, but states also rely on non-tax revenues to fund many important activities and programs. So fees and charges, licenses and permits, are part of the revenue system.Publication State property tax comparisons : residential property(2009-11) Saltzman, Ellen Weeks; Jim Self Center on the FutureThis policy brief compares the taxation of residential property in South Carolina with that in four other Southeastern states: Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. Among the five states, South Carolina had the largest difference in property taxes faced by owner-occupied residential property and those faced by rental or second home residential property of the same value, in the same jurisdiction.Publication Act 388 revisited(2012-11-30) Saltzman, Ellen Weeks; Ulbrich, Holley H.; Jim Self Center on the FutureThis report reviews the effects of homeowner school propert tax relief in South Carolina. The impact of tax relief on the level of school district funding and its composition is examined statewide and at the district level. Particular emphasis is given to identifying distributional chamges among districts resulting grom Act 388 of 2006, which had a negative impact on many poorer districts, School funding data examined in this report is from fiscal years 1994-95 to 2009-10.Publication Act 388 and the minimum guarantee(2014-01) Saltzman, Ellen W.; Ulbrich, Holley H.; Jim Self Center on the FutureAct 388 of 2006 provided relief to South Carolina homeowners from school property taxes, resulting in a substantial shift in state education funds among school districts. This report focuses on only one aspect of Act 388, the guarantee of a minimum of $2.5 million per county in Act 388 funds. Counties whose school districts received less than a combined $2.5 million were to receive supplemental tax relief to bring them up to that level. This supplemental tax relief came to $20.4 million in 2011-12, which accounted for an average of 5.6 percent of all state funds distributed to 28 recipient school districtsPublication Property tax relief programs in the United States(2004-07) Cico, David C.; Jim Self Center on the FutureThis is a chart of property tax relief programs in the United State broken down by state, program,age, disability or other requirements, household income requirements, limitation on qualifying property value, type of relief and additional comments.Publication School district organization and governance in South Carolina(2010-03-11) Ulbrich, Holley H.; Jim Self Center on the FutureThis paper examines the structure and governance of public education in South Carolina at both the state and local levels. We are particularly concerned with the local dimensions: the number and sizes of districts, the size and composition of school boards, and the methods by which either or both can be changed. We also consider the implications of this structure for the ability of school districts to provide an adequate education to all their pupils and to do so in a flexible but accountable manner that reflects and respects the different needs, backgrounds, challenges and opportunities of their student populations.Publication “No Child Left Behind” school choice provisions : devilish details for South Carolina’s neediest schools(2004-05-10) Jim Self Center on the FutureDo reasonably proximal alternative schools and plausible transportation systems exist to allow South Carolina students in our most troubled schools to truly exercise School Choice? Empirical evidence and previous research indicate that these are critical questions. This report was prepared to highlight some of the key issues surrounding the plausibility of effective implementation of school choice options for “unsatisfactory” schools in South Carolina. Also, the objectives for our continued research on this subject are offered.Publication Scenic Highway 174 corridor management plan(2008-04-30) Jim Self Center on the FutureThis document shows the process and progress of designating Highway 174 as a scenic highway.