Summer program for 25K SC students served only about 3,500 inside schools
The Department of Education planned to help 25,000 struggling kindergarten through third graders catch up on their studies this summer. However, only 3,500 students attended classes in person as of the latest tally.
The lack of in-person participation in the program means the state will only spend $7.8 million of the $50.7 million of federal CARES Act money set aside specifically for the academic recovery camps held in person, an aide with the education department told state senators at a Wednesday meeting of a panel tasked with evaluating how the state should move forward amid COVID-19 pandemic.
As coronavirus cases went up this summer, most students opted to go to virtual instruction.
Department of Education officials said schools did reach about 20,000 students virtually through the program to help students who were already struggling before the pandemic hit.
DOE spokesman Ryan Brown said the state expected 10,000 students to participate in face-to-face instruction in the summer program, with the remainder using a virtual option. The department is still collecting requests for reimbursement, and the number of students could reach 5,000 who had in-person instruction.
The Department of Education can only reimburse school districts for the in-person instruction that took place in the summer program, said Katie Nilges, a state education department legislative liaison.
Nilges said schools are aware of they may be on the hook for paying for the instruction that took place during the four-week program.
Initially 10,000 students had signed up for in-person instruction starting the first week of July. But then cases started to spike in the state and parents began switching to virtual instruction.
Money left over from the program could be used for additional instructional support for kindergarten through third grade students in language arts and math, Nilges said.
It “could be (used for) face to face tutoring or interventionists that could occur during the school days or after school days to make sure we’re touching those students we should have reached in those face to face recovery camps during the summer,” Nilges said.
The money also could pay for instructional support for fourth through 12th grades as well as for nurses, counselors or social workers, Nilges said.
The news about the summer camps comes amid an ongoing debate about whether schools should return to in-person instruction for the upcoming school year.
S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster has said he wants schools to offer in-person instruction five days a week after Labor Day. Senators said they want instruction to be in person, but some said they worry about whether it can be done safely.
“I’m one of those who think it’s not safe to send kids to school right now,” said state Sen. Kevin Johnson, D-Clarendon, Wednesday. “I hope I’m wrong about that.”
This story was originally published August 13, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
