COLUMBIA, S.C. (WSPA) – The South Carolina legislative session begins on Tuesday and Governor Henry McMaster shared his recommendations for the state’s budget on Monday.

Governor McMaster suggested the budget focus on several important areas, including education and disaster relief. Governor McMaster hopes to allocate lots of money to support agencies that helped South Carolina during Helene.

$50 million could go to the Department of Transportation just for the cost of repairing damage from Hurricane Helene.

He said this budget also recommends a proviso that has the Office of Regulatory Staff to study the possible benefits of underground power lines.

“We had not only powerlines getting knocked down from limbs, but we had power-poles themselves knocked down from trees and limbs in the rain. Because of the electrical lines entangled with all the limbs, it was very difficult to remove that quickly,” McMaster said.

Another one of his priorities is education. Governor McMaster said he wants to continue improving benefits for teachers and students, with a minimum average starting salary for teachers being $50,000.

“All I know is that we have to educate these young people,” McMaster said. “We have to find a way to be sure that we have the best facilities, the best teachers, so that they have everything they need.”

Governor McMaster said the most important thing lawmakers can do with this budget is to propel South Carolina to success.

“Requires that we constantly work to maintain our competitive advantage in the ever-accelerated race for new jobs and capital investment, and again in the southeast that competition is fierce,” he said.

Governor McMaster’s budget is not set in stone and is only a recommendation. Lawmakers have the final say.