{"id":4348,"date":"2026-08-05T18:38:27","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T18:38:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usmovingexpertss.com\/?p=4348"},"modified":"2026-08-05T18:38:27","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T18:38:27","slug":"south-carolina-collects-a-slew-of-data-lawmakers-want-usc-to-help-make-use-of-it-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usmovingexpertss.com\/?p=4348","title":{"rendered":"South Carolina collects a slew of data. Lawmakers want USC to help make use of it"},"content":{"rendered":"
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South Carolina state agencies are awash in data, but the valuable information they collect about education, employment and the economy too often remains siloed and unexamined.<\/p>\n

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Lawmakers are hoping to change that.<\/p>\n

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The General Assembly has set aside money in this year\u2019s budget to create a public policy institute that will be tasked with integrating and analyzing government data collected across several state agencies to support informed decision-making by state and local policymakers.<\/p>\n

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The institute, which will be housed at the University of South Carolina, will focus on education and workforce issues to start, but over time could branch out into areas such as public health, economic development, public safety and infrastructure.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s a really interesting concept,\u201d said state Sen. Sean Bennett, R-Dorchester, a major proponent of the initiative. \u201cIt has a lot of potential to help policymakers make better decisions \u2014 data-based decisions instead of emotionally-based decisions \u2014 and I see it working in conjunction with many of our agencies.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The senator said the institute would be modeled after the Helios Education Foundation, an Arizona nonprofit that uses data to help improve educational outcomes for low-income and historically underrepresented students in Arizona and Florida.<\/p>\n

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Bennett first visited Helios several years ago as part of an education fellowship program for state political leaders. Impressed by what he saw, he got to thinking about replicating their work in the Palmetto State.<\/p>\n

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Last fall, the senator took a group of state agency officials to tour the organization\u2019s Phoenix campus and said he was encouraged to learn that South Carolina was \u201cway ahead\u201d of many states with respect to interagency data sharing.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019re just trying to take that ball and run with it,\u201d said Bennett, who envisions a future where South Carolina lawmakers can request data analyses in real time as they wrestle with complex policy and budgetary decisions.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere\u2019s really all kinds of uses if we\u2019ve got good data and a good way to visualize that data and understand it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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The General Assembly, which could be approved as soon as next week, and is expected to pitch in a comparable amount for the next several years to help get it off the ground.<\/p>\n

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Bennett said he wants to get the institute up-and-running quickly, but acknowledged it would likely be multiple years before it\u2019s fully operational.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis is a big undertaking, and it\u2019s an important undertaking,\u201d the Dorchester Republican said. \u201cWe want to make sure we get it right.\u201d<\/p>\n

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USC\u2019s role<\/h2>\n

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Lawmakers opted to locate the public policy institute at USC, rather than within state government, to keep it nimble and efficient.<\/p>\n

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The decision did not sit well with state Sen. Wes Climer, R-York, who said he supported the concept, but objected to USC\u2019s involvement with the project.<\/p>\n

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Climer, who is running to succeed U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman in the 5th Congressional District, argued that USC had \u201cevery one of the vices on steroids that are within government\u201d and questioned the university\u2019s ability to objectively process and present data.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt would be a mistake to locate this institute at the University of South Carolina or any institution of higher education,\u201d he said during a budget hearing in April. \u201cAs a general matter, institutions of higher ed today, in the current climate, lack adequate culture for undertaking the significant responsibility proposed in this proviso.\u201d<\/p>\n

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While Bennett said he was sympathetic to Climer\u2019s concerns and would have preferred to house the center at a nonprofit like Helios, nothing comparable exists in South Carolina.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere is no third-party independent nonprofit to do it, the government isn\u2019t an area to do it, where else can it go?\u201d he said during the budget discussion. \u201cA research university tends to make sense to me. They\u2019ve got the bandwidth, they\u2019ve got the resources, they\u2019ve got the technical ability, as well as the data knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The senator said Thomas Hodges, dean of USC\u2019s College of Education, would head up the effort.<\/p>\n

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Hodges, who traveled to Phoenix last year with Bennett and state agency leaders, directed questions about the institute to the university\u2019s public information office.<\/p>\n

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