A few weeks ago, that would have prohibited school districts from routing taxpayer money to fund bureaucratic advocacy groups, or .

Representative Boyd Brown introduced the budget amendment, which would eliminate taxpayer-funded lobbying and prohibit the use of tax dollars for dues at any “organization which employs a lobbyist.” The bill died March 18 by one vote.

The estimates that every dollar collected by . And in the state, less than half of each dollar spent on public education reaches the classroom. You do the math.

While an outright ban on taxpayer-funded lobbying associations didn’t work out this time in South Carolina, one path concerned citizens can take is to follow the footsteps of journalists in New Hampshire, who ultimately made it so that . As usual, the prescription is for citizens to do the hard work to get governments to give up information.