One day after releasing the 2026 South Carolina School Report Cards, and I’m still smiling. Four years ago, we set a simple standard for South Carolina: high expectations and strong support for every school, in every ZIP code. No exceptions. Yesterday, our students showed what that standard produces. 320 Excellent schools, up from 270. An 87.5% graduation rate, the highest in at least a decade. The strongest reading and math results in the history of SC READY. And some of the biggest gains in the entire state came from our high-poverty schools. What struck me most standing at the State House wasn’t the numbers. It was who earned them. A teacher who stayed after the bell with a struggling reader. A principal who refused to accept excuses. A parent who sat at the kitchen table every night and did the homework alongside their child. Nobody in Columbia did that. They did. When I first asked for this job, I made a promise: higher expectations, higher support, and no excuses. Hope is not passive. It is an action plan. We raised teacher pay, brought phonics back, put phones away, kept kids safe, and gave families real choices. And the General Assembly and Governor @HenryMcMaster were true partners every step of the way. But make no mistake about who deserves the credit. Our students, teachers, families, and school leaders did the work. They are the South Carolina Surge. We are not finished. Every child in this state is capable, creative, and full of God-given purpose, and we are going to keep proving it. The best is yet to come.