COLOMBIA, SC (WIS) – This year, South Carolina public schools will receive a historic inflow of money – $ 2.1 billion – after Congress approved the American Rescue Plan earlier this month.
In addition, the state has already received $ 1.1 billion after the passing of the CARES Act over the summer and the complementary response bill COVID-19 passed in December.
“It is an unprecedented amount of money; it’s more money than we’ve already received, ”said South Carolina Department of Education spokesman Ryan Brown.
Brown explained that this is not the whole pot of money that public schools will have available this year, because it will be added to the resources already allocated.
In a normal year, South Carolina received $ 10 billion from state, local and federal funds.
So, in all, $ 13 billion will go to South Carolina’s K-12 public schools this year.
About 90 percent of federal government funding will go directly to school districts, but the Department of Education will review the district’s spending plans and the agency has the power to deny requests.
“It’s not just about free money, so we really have to make sure they are used properly,” said Brown. “It is very important that the money is spent on programs and initiatives that keep schools open safely and support students who may be experiencing difficulties.”
Palmetto Teachers Association history professor and director of government affairs, Patrick Kelly, is excited about how this money can improve public schools in the years to come. However, he fears that some districts may spend funds on “flashy technology” and “sophisticated things”.
But, if used correctly, Kelly says that this funding can dramatically improve state schools.
“As a history teacher, I don’t use that terminology lightly, but this level of federal stimulus for our schools is really a kind of New Deal money,” he said.
Although the federal government has guidelines on how funds should be used to address the damage caused by COVID-19 and help students return to face-to-face learning, Kelly says some of the old problems he has been trying to solve in schools across the state can now be resolved.
“Insufficient or outdated infrastructure, such as HVAC systems … oversized classrooms and oversized proportions of students per teacher, or lack of sufficient mental and social support for students – all of these factors that have existed in our schools for years have been put on display blinding of the pandemic, ”said Kelly.
Brown said the Department of Education’s priorities for the funds include ensuring that schools have all the resources they need to safely return to face-to-face learning and helping students who were left behind during the pandemic.
He also hopes that the money can be used to improve school buildings, help retain teachers to counter the shortage of educators in South Carolina, and ensure that each school has a full-time nurse on staff.
“There is a wide range of possibilities and I think it is important that the state, the funding that we receive and the school districts are transformative with this and really outside the box,” said Brown.
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