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Education

Education

Find content about education in South Carolina.

  • The University of South Carolina will unveil a statue in 2024 on the Horseshoe that will honor the first three Black students to enroll at the state's flagship college.
    Maayan Schechter
    The University of South Carolina will unveil a 12-foot bronze monument in 2024 that will honor the first three Black students to enroll at the university on Sept. 11, 1963.
  • FILE
    Allison Shelley/The Verbatim Agency for EDUimages
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    The Verbatim Agency
    For the last twenty years, school choice advocates have been pushing to enact a law that would allow parents to use state tax dollars to send their children to private or religious schools. Public school supporters have long resisted the idea claiming such a program would hurt public schools.This year the Republican controlled General Assembly appears to be on the verge of establishing a school-voucher program.
  • Health care workers and educators in South Carolina are doubling down on calls for lawmakers to roll back a provision that bans masks in schools. Pediatricians, school nurses and teachers on Tuesday described the toll the coronavirus pandemic is taking on students and in children's hospitals. They want lawmakers to repeal a state rule that prevents school districts from using state money to enforce a rule requiring masks. More than 88,000 students and staff have been quarantined this school year so far. Schools have recorded nearly 21,000 COVID-19 cases this fall, almost 7,000 more than they counted all of last year.
  • If the old book is true, if all one really needs to know is learned in kindergarten, then Gloria Gainey celebrated more than a birthday recently. She celebrated generations of Fort Mill children turning adults, who know plenty due to her.Gainey is a kindergarten assistant at Fort Mill Elementary School. She turned 80 on Sept. 8. She started her role as a kindergarten teacher back in 1975."I just love it," she said. "I love 5-year-olds and everything. I enjoy doing the work. It's just a fun job. I've always felt like Fort Mill was my school family."
  • The Education Department says it's investigating five Republican-led states that have banned mask requirements in schools, saying the policies could amount to discrimination against students with disabilities or health conditions. The department's office for civil rights sent letters to education chiefs in Iowa, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Utah. Those states have barred schools from requiring masks among students and staff, a move that the department says could prevent some students from safely attending school.
  • South Carolina State University has decided to keep its acting president as its temporary leader as a search continues for a permanent replacement. University trustees voted 12-1 on Wednesday to change Alexander Conyers' title from "acting president" to "interim president." Trustees chairman Rodney Jenkins says Conyers has shown formidable leadership skills since taking over in July after former President James Clark was fired.
  • South Carolina students will again be required to wear masks on school buses starting Monday as COVID-19 cases among children and students are rising rapidly. The state Education Department told schools in July they did not have to make students on buses wear masks. But the agency changed its mind in a letter Thursday, bringing it into line with federal health rules about masks on buses.
  • Some Republican governors are using federal pandemic assistance to promote school choice programs, including charter schools and vouchers for private schools. The money comes with few strings attached, and it lets them sidestep legislative approval.
  • Some school districts and counties, and the City of Columbia have defied the state prohibition and ordered mask mandates in schools sparking growing pressure on the General Assembly to meet to repeal the prohibition.
  • More public colleges and universities in South Carolina are requiring people wear masks on campus to prevent the spread of COVID-19 after the state's Supreme Court ruled the schools can legally do so.
  • The state's top prosecutor says the University of South Carolina can't lawfully require students and staff to wear face coverings on campus this fall, despite increasing cases of coronavirus, thanks to recent legislative action. University officials said last week they would require "face coverings to be worn at all times inside all campus buildings" except dorms, private offices or dining halls.
  • A South Carolina newspaper is suing a school district over officials' lack of transparency in their handling of the resignation of a popular superintendent last month. The State newspaper in Columbia says it filed the lawsuit last week against the Lexington-Richland 5 school district. The newspaper argues that the school board approved a settlement with former superintendent Christina Melton behind closed doors. The suit alleges that's a violation of open meeting laws because board members didn't hold a public discussion or vote. Melton resigned unexpectedly last month, shortly after being named South Carolina's Superintendent of the Year.