SC schools to get $900M to make classrooms safer, cover learning loss due to COVID-19
South Carolina’s public and private schools will get an extra nearly $900 million to help make classrooms safer for students, teachers and staff as the state’s education chief and governor push to reopen classrooms five days a week during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The state received more than $846 million in federal one-time grants to help reopen public schools and nearly $40 million for private schools that will not need the governor’s approval to spend, said the state’s education department.
Gov. Henry McMaster and state schools chief Molly Spearman have pushed schools to reopen to students in-person all five days.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also Friday issued new guidance saying there is strong evidence that in-person class instruction can be done using a combination strategy of mask wearing, social distancing, hand washing and building cleaning.
Not every school leader has been on board, since thousands of teachers and support staff have not been vaccinated against COVID-19.
Legislative efforts to push teachers to the current phase of vaccine doses — Phase 1A — have moved slowly through the Legislature. While the Senate adopted the measure this week, it is unclear whether the House will adopt the shift. And the governor has said repeatedly he will not try to move teachers up ahead of seniors who need the doses more, though the Legislature could override his veto should he take that step.
Right now, 682 schools have reopened face-to-face and 553 schools are still using a hybrid model — a mix of in-person classroom instruction and online virtual learning.
Thirty-one schools are still teaching students strictly online, a model the state is hoping to change course on quickly. Those 31 schools include schools in Calhoun and Lee counties, but officials said it also includes schools in McCormick and Lancaster counties and some charter schools that have gone back face-to-face but have returned to virtual because of short staffing.
Spearman said Friday that Calhoun and Lee school districts that have not offered face-to-face instruction at all will soon implement a hybrid model so that students can return some days.
“The data shows schools are safe. We do not have to vaccinate everybody in order to go back to school five days a week, clearly it shows that,” said Spearman at a State Board of Education meeting this week. “Many schools have been back, they’re operating well and were not vaccinated. However, we are having to go from full face-to-face back to virtual because some teachers are getting infected, and this would be an extra layer of protection that I believe we should try and offer just as soon as possible.”
Spearman stood by her letter to state leaders Friday that she would like to see teachers get vaccinated as soon as possible.
Should vaccines become available, Spearman said every district is prepared and has been matched with a COVID-19 vaccine provider.
“I support that teachers and educators be given priority in the vaccination immediately,” she said.
In the meantime, officials hope schools will take advantage of one-time federal grant dollars to help get students, teachers and staff back into the schools safely.
In December last year, Congress passed a COVID-19 spending bill that included billions to help reopen schools safely.
Out of that pot, the state department said South Carolina has received more than $846 million to help address areas of learning loss, school facility reports and improving indoor air quality. The grants must be spent by Sept. 30, 2023.
Those federal dollars are on top of the already issued $194.8 million the state got back last summer to be spent by Sept. 30, 2022.
For private schools, the state received nearly $40 million this week, prioritized by poverty rates, that will not need the governor’s approval to spend. That money will flow through the state’s Department of Education and any unused dollars after six months will go into the governor’s discretionary education account.
State education department spokesman Ryan Brown called it Friday an “unprecedented amount of money.”
“Our staff is working with our private school folks right now to make sure that this is done efficiently and as swiftly as possible,” Spearman said. “... The expectation from us is that much of it should be spent on overcoming learning loss that the students have.”
South Carolina students, similar students in states across the country, have experienced learning loss as a result of the academic disruption wrought by the coronavirus pandemic.
A recent assessment of standardized test scores found students in lower grades fared worse than they had in past years, especially in math. The state is in the process of providing districts with an analysis of their students’ scores and has asked them to develop learning recovery plans to address the learning gaps the assessments revealed.
Spearman said Friday that the department is working with districts on their recovery plans, though districts have the final say.
“We certainly are working with them and monitoring how they’re spending their money and suggesting the best practices,” Spearman said, who added, “I think that you will see some additional summer school programs.”
This story was originally published February 12, 2021 at 10:23 AM.
