Recent editorials from South Carolina newspapers:
The Times and Democrat
December 14
South Carolina highway death toll
With South Carolina counting down to a death toll on the highway that will again be at or close to 1,000 dead in the year, a CoPilot report is expected to come as a holiday alert.
While most states report the largest increase in traffic deaths during the fourth of July, traffic-related deaths across the country increase by more than 30% during general holidays each year. Researchers ranked U.S. states according to the increase in fatal holiday accidents and included the deadliest holidays for each location, as well as the share of all driving deaths that occur on holidays.
In South Carolina, fatal accidents increase 24.5% during holidays. In fact, 6.1% of all fatal accidents in South Carolina occur during holidays.
In order to reverse the trend, you will often read about the problems associated with drunk driving, distracted driving and speeding. But during a particularly tense time of year in a particularly tense year, there is another problem that needs to be resolved: aggressive driving.
“A driver may react incorrectly to another driver’s action on a given day – holidays can add to the stress,” said Tiffany Wright, a spokeswoman for AAA-The Auto Club Group in the Carolinas. “Present the pressures and concerns associated with a pandemic and even the most calm and safety-conscious drivers may be frustrated by other drivers.”
According to a new AAA survey, nearly 8 out of 10 (79%) American drivers have admitted aggressive behavior in the past 30 days. The most common actions were:
– 48% – Speeding (driving 15 mph over the speed limit on a crowded highway).
– 34% – Tailgating (following a vehicle in front of you closely to avoid the merger of another vehicle).
– 32% – Making rude gestures or honking at other drivers.
– 31% – Running a red light.
– 26% – Aggressive driving: change lanes quickly or drive very close to another car.
Needless to say, all of these actions put the aggressive driver and others at risk.
So try to calm down behind the wheel, lessening the risk of an unpleasant encounter with another driver and the police.
– Follow the published speed limits.
– Maintain an adequate tracking distance.
– Use turn signals.
– Allow others to merge.
– Use your high headlights responsibly.
– Be considerate in parking lots – park in one spot, not in multiple spots. Be careful not to hit cars near you with your door.
If you encounter an aggressive driver or even direct actions of anger on the road, AAA advises:
– Avoid eye contact.
– If you are confronted, stay as calm and courteous as possible.
– Do not respond to aggression with aggression.
– If you feel threatened, call 911.
– If you feel at risk, go to a public place, such as a police station, hospital or fire department.
– When parking, leave space so that you can get out safely if someone approaches you aggressively.
– Use the horn to get attention, but stay in the vehicle locked.
The year has been difficult enough. Don’t let this become even more deadly by driving anyway, but with the utmost caution and consideration. It doesn’t matter what you find.
The Post and Courier
December 12
Governor’s attempts to give federal aid funds to private public schools
There is not much to say about Governor Henry McMaster’s effort to have the SC Supreme Court overturn the course and allow him to distribute $ 32 million in COVID-19 federal aid funds to private schools.
It is clearly good that the court stood firm in its original and unanimous order, declaring that the governor’s plan to pay parents to take their children out of public schools and send them to private schools was unconstitutional. Combined with loans from the Salary Protection Program that private schools had previously received, their Secure Access to Flexible Education grants would have allowed private schools to receive more than twice the federal COVID-19 funding per student than schools public: an average of $ 560 for each of the 780,000 students in public schools and $ 1,240 for each of the 50,000 students in private schools.
But the judges did not use the governor’s request for a new hearing as an opportunity to provide some much-needed clarity to their original decision, which raised questions about the constitutionality of the state’s lottery scholarship program, all kinds of assistance to private colleges and even crucial early child development initiatives operated through the State’s First Steps to School Preparation program.
Instead, the judges simply excluded two statements of fact from the original order, without providing any hints about their thinking.
The original court order recognized that the state constitution was amended in 1973 to replace the ban on direct or indirect funding for religious institutions with a ban on public funding “for the direct benefit of any religious institution or other private educational institution”. This amendment had the specific objective of allowing the Legislature to grant scholarships to students from private colleges.
The court suggested, but did not say directly, that the details of Mr. McMaster’s voucher exchanges transformed them from indirect live support to private schools: specifically, the fact that the federal CARES Act required funds to go to institutions, not individuals, and that vouchers were only available to students from private schools and only to the private schools that Mr. McMaster selected.
If that were indeed what the judges wanted to say, they would have done a great service for our state, explaining this clearly, in order to alleviate the questions about whether scholarships and programs that pay private entities to provide educational enrichment are constitutional. Failing to do so, the court is likely to see more litigation, as Mr. McMaster suggested in response to the order.
In addition, the governor’s quixotic search for a new audience – difficult even in split decisions and practically never successful in unanimous decisions – has delayed the application of federal funds that Congress sent to governors to mitigate the impact of COVID on education.
Fortunately, the money Mr. McMaster controls is not subject to the December 31 spending period that most of the federal funds in COVID-19 are on.
But while he said he has a contingency plan to use the $ 32 million to provide “educational opportunity, choice and access for students from working and low-income families who have been adversely affected or displaced due to the COVID epidemic,” said his office. as of Thursday that plan was still under development and no details were available.
We are happy that the governor wants to focus the funding on low-income students, which his initial plan claimed to do, but would not have done significantly. We hope that the governor is not trying to find a way to adapt his voucher plan to technically comply with the constitution. Instead, we would like to urge you to remember that, as governor of the entire state, your responsibility is to all children in our state.
The overwhelming majority of these children attend public schools – especially the children he says he most wants to help. And because private schools have limited capacity and (appropriately) can choose their students, children who need help most would still be attending public schools, even though he could provide free access to private schools.
The Index-Journal
December 11
More transparency about the numbers of virus cases in schools
Schools may, in general, be doing well when it comes to the COVID-19 positive case rate, but they are not COVID deserts.
Transparency in relation to case numbers is essential public information Certainly schools have no obligation or need to report cases by name, but it is useful when they make sufficient and useful information public, such as whether cases involve students or staff and how many cases . It is true that schools can make this information available only within their immediate school community – teachers, staff, students and parents from specific schools – but sharing with the wider community is just good practice.
Taxpayers keep schools operational and even those taxpayers who may not have a direct connection to any particular school must be kept informed of such matters.
One school district, Greenwood County School District 52, in particular, has regularly issued updates on COVID-19 through press releases. And that is worthy of approval. In fact, all school districts, private schools and colleges and universities in our area must be as accessible with such information on a regular basis.