Staff reports | S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster and State Superintendent Ellen Weaver this week launched a new online tool that parents can use to track school district spending.
South Carolinians can see how their local districts are spending their taxpayer dollars from their computer screens or phones to provide unprecedented transparency into where this money is going.
The new accountability tool came about as part of a requirement in the state’s recent budget.
“When we all got together and determined it was time to have a new, not-so-complicated [school funding] formula so we could make some sense out of it, we realized that you can’t manage it if you can’t measure it, so this is how we’re measuring it right here,” Gov. Henry McMaster said.
In related education news, Weaver says she wants the state, not local school districts, to pick books for students. And in Berkeley County, a committee for the county’s school district is continuing its review and will provide recommendations on whether multiple books should be banned from the district after one parent challenged 93 books based on objections to age-inappropriate sexual content and obscene language.
In other South Carolina News:
Charleston fish show high levels of forever chemicals. The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control found blue crabs, oysters and freshwater fish in water bodies across South Carolina to have per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), also known as forever chemicals.
Devine gets Democratic nod to fill Columbia-area Senate seat. Tameika Isaac Devine, a former Columbia city councilwoman, won the special Democratic primary for state Senate District 19 in northwest Richland County Oct. 24, likely guaranteeing a sixth woman will join the Legislature’s upper chamber.
S.C. lawmakers hope to address concerns on energy’s future. State lawmakers said South Carolina’s energy grid is at a critical juncture, sounding the alarm about the need to address potential shortfalls in power production.
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- Related op-ed: Davis on how S.C.’s energy crisis is already here.
Poor hiring practices at S.C. disabilities agency facilitate abuse, neglect, study finds. The second part of an investigation requested by lawmakers found chronic issues of abuse, neglect or exploitation continue to surface at the state agency responsible for serving disabled persons.
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