Students wouldn’t get new textbooks, school districts would be forced to consolidate and three colleges would close under Governor Mark Sanford’s budget plan. Spending on colleges and K-12 education accounts for nearly half of the Republican governor’s $5.8 billion budget proposal for 2009-2010.

U.S. House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn says he’s trying to find a way to get South Carolina federal stimulus money even if the governor is against such help.

2009-2010 SC Budget Sets Spending Priorities, Reforms Tax Code, Largely Protects Core Services

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford will release his plans for balancing the state’s budget and slashing spending this week.

The standoff between South Carolina’s governor and state officials continues, with only two days before the state must stop printing unemployment checks for 77,000 people.

A spokesman for South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford says a request for federal aid to pay benefits to out-of-work residents will be signed as soon as unemployment officials agree to certain conditions.

Three of South Carolina’s leading Republican lawmakers are slamming Gov. Mark Sanford for his reluctance to accept federal money that could save the state’s dwindling fund for unemployment benefits.

The Unemployment Insurance Fund that pays benefits to South Carolinians who’ve lost their jobs will run out of money at the end of the month. The Employment Security Commission has asked Gov. Mark Sanford to request a federal loan of $146 million, which would allow benefits to continue through March. But the governor says he won’t ask for the loan until the Employment Security Commission makes some changes. WJBF News Channel 6’s Capitol reporter, Robert Kittle, has more.

At a time when other states are clamoring for cash, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford is saying no thanks.

The governor of South Carolina is the latest state chief executive to receive a suspicious package in the mail.

While many other state governors are asking the federal government for financial help, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford wants none of it for his state. In a letter to president-elect Barack Obama, Gov. Sanford wrote, “We don’t believe economic problems that were in large measure created by too much debt will be solved by more debt.“ WJBF News Channel 6’s Capitol reporter, Robert Kittle, has the story.

Gov. Mark Sanford said he will do everything he can to fight another round of bailouts, though he acknowledged he can’t do much.

Gov. Mark Sanford says a new $6 million security system at the Statehouse is a “colossal waste” and has ordered state police away from some checkpoints.

Gov. Mark Sanford has asked the U.S. Treasury Secretary to investigate Greenville-based Carolina First bank to see whether it’s “gaming the system” to get federal bailout money. He says that’s just one example of why citizens from across the state need to contact their elected officials in Washington and urge them to oppose additional bailouts, and to have better oversight and transparency of the funds already committed. WJBF News Channel 6’s Capitol reporter, Robert Kittle, has more.

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford wants the state to lower expectations for investment returns on the state’s retirement funds. Sanford argued for the change Thursday when the state Budget and Control Board met.  Sanford wants the state to drop its current assumed rate of return of 8 percent by three-quarters of a percentage point.