News

House freshmen attend orientation
South Carolina House rookies spent Tuesday finding out what to expect in their freshmen terms.
Read More

Voters showed support for public schools (Opinion)
In every American election, there is a message to government. Our choices send a clearer message in some years than others -- President Reagan in 1980, President Clinton in 1992, and this year, President-elect Barack Obama, who rode decisively to victory on America's impatience for change.
Read More

Time to move from partisanship to citizenship
Jim Rex struck an excellent note: In an election-eve letter to his Education Department mailing list, he called on classroom teachers to use the election as one of those "teachable moments" that educators and parents love to refer to.
Read More

SC agencies making cuts in tough budget times
Heads of agencies across South Carolina say they are doing all they can to avoid laying off employees as the state cuts its budget by $488 million. But some jobs have already been lost, and experts say more could be cut.
Read More

Rex to promote funding reforms
S.C. Education Superintendent Jim Rex will spend the next 10 days on a statewide back-to-school tour aimed at ramping up grassroots support for reforming the state's funding formula for schools.
Read More

How a New Yorker's cash impacts S.C. races
A New York real estate investor helped flood South Carolina with more than $400,000 in donations to State House candidates this election season as he continued his push for the use of tax money to pay for private school education, according to an Associated Press analysis of campaign finance records.
Read More

N.Y. man won't give up S.C. school choice fight
The New Yorker pouring money into South Carolina's political races in a push for school choice says he won't give up anytime soon.
Read More

Howie Rich trashes S.C. public education
Howie Rich, the rich New Yorker who's trying to buy the S.C. Legislature, hates public education.
Read More

What makes Howie Rich's donations so different
Whenever I write about all the money Manhattan millionaire Howie Rich is investing to remake our General Assembly in his image, I get two main complaints...
Read More

School case heads back to high court
The S.C. Supreme Court on Wednesday will consider for a second time whether the state's rural communities inherently deserve more money to underwrite public schools.
Read More

School finance on state's agenda
More than 30 years have passed since the state designed its plan to fund education, and now it is simply no longer working.
Read More

School voucher backers again giving to S.C. campaigns
A pro-school voucher advocate and associates who helped bankroll several Republican campaigns in 2006 are writing South Carolina-bound checks again.
Read More

Goal is to get laptops to school kids
Thousands of South Carolina children have limited access to computers, but education officials hope to change that through a statewide campaign launched Monday.
Read More

Legislation replacing PACT tests becomes law
The new legislation makes the first significant changes to South Carolina’s Education Accountability Act since it was approved by the General Assembly 10 years ago. That law mandated annual testing for 380,000 students in grades 3-8 and the publishing of annual school report cards. "These changes are what teachers and parents have been asking for," said State Superintendent of Education Jim Rex. "They make our accountability system more practical for educators, more effective for schools ...
Read More

'High quality' schools sought
The folks who pushed for better public schools by bringing you mass rallies, a $6 million, 15-year lawsuit, and the "Corridor of Shame" documentary have opened up a new front.
Read More

Parents get 4-year-olds ready for school
It wasn't precisely the first day of school for 4-year-old Deon Burden, but that didn't matter. Latricia Burden brought him to the Pinecrest Center Wednesday to register Deon for 4-year-old kindergarten next fall.
Read More

Bill expanding public school choice stalls in House
A bill requiring school districts to give their students more educational options appears dead for the year.
Read More

State seeks relief from No Child Left Behind rule
U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings announced Wednesday that her department would allow certain states to spend more on schools that need the most help rather than treating all schools that didn't make Adequate Yearly Progress the same, whether only one group of students did poorly or a dozen groups.
Read More

Rex backs school choice
Rex spoke to about 50 educators during one of many town hall meetings he plans to make throughout the spring. He detailed a five-point plan that he has touted since his election 14 months ago: accelerating innovation, providing more choice within public schools, elevating and accelerating the teaching profession, reforming accountability, and creating a fair and equitable funding system.
Read More

S.C. ranks high in pre-kindergarten
South Carolina ranks seventh in the nation for providing access to state-funded prekindergarten classes, the Southern Regional Education Board reported Wednesday. The SREB said its member states continue to lead the nation in the overall quality of publicly funded pre-kindergarten programs for 4-year-olds, a national report released today shows.
Read More

House approves bill to replace end-of-the-year student test
State Education Superintendent Jim Rex lauded the proposal for giving teachers more of the midyear tests they want for quick feedback on each student, but criticized it for not reducing the high-stakes tests taken each spring. Rex had proposed curtailing end-of-year testing in social studies and science, saying students spend too much time taking tests.
Read More

Keep politics out state's accountability revisions
I am a fiscal and religious conservative who almost always votes Republican. So I have been more than a little uncomfortable recently as a few of my fellow Republicans in the House of Representatives have tried to score political points over what should be a bipartisan effort to improve South Carolina's public schools through revision of our school accountability system.
Read More

Five Teachers Named Finalists for SC Teacher of the Year
Rex says the five teachers are Jenna Hallman, a science teacher at Calhoun Academy for the Arts in Anderson School District 5, Josie Stratton, an English teacher at Mayo High School for Math, Science and Technology in Darlington County, Renee Sanders, a biology teacher at Johnsonville High School in Florence School District 5, Laura Jean Reed, a music teacher at Stone Academy of Communications Arts in Greenville, and Rona Neely, a math teacher at Bell Street Middle School in Laurens ...
Read More

Group forms to encourage voters to OK $163M in bonds for schools
A community group was formed Wednesday to persuade Beaufort County voters to approve $162.7 million in bonds to build new schools.
Read More

Lottery a loser for S.C. schools in March
South Carolina schools will see no money from the state lottery in March, and only received half of the funds they generally see in February, state officials said.
Read More

High school considering single-gender classes
Georgetown High School may become the third school in the Georgetown County School District to have a single-gender program, starting in August.
Read More

PACT may soon be history
House backs bill to find better exam.
Read More

Schools chief has plans for success
State Education Superintendent Jim Rex spoke to residents Thursday night about his initiative to energize what he calls the state's ailing education system.
Read More

Ed. chief asks legislators to expand 4-year-old kindergarten
South Carolina's education superintendent pleaded with senators Wednesday to fund an expansion of the 4-year-old kindergarten program, even though legislators are facing a tight budget year.
Read More

Second proposal to replace PACT looks much like first
Republican leaders in the state House on Wednesday unveiled their plan to eliminate the Palmetto Achievement Challenge Tests, and it looked a lot like the plan they scrapped a week ago.
Read More

Education reform bill would end PACT tests
State Rep. Bob Walker will introduce legislation this week to overhaul the Education Accountability Act, and his plan includes eliminating the much-maligned Palmetto Achievement Challenge Tests.
Read More

School reform law changes proposed
State schools chief Jim Rex expressed support today for legislation that calls for replacing Palmetto Achievement Challenge Tests with new annual exams as well as other changes to the decade-old school accountability system.
Read More

SC education panel releases Web site to evaluate schools

Read More

Proposed bill would ax PACT but improve state testing and help classroom, Rex says.
State Superintendent of Education Jim Rex expressed his strong support for legislation introduced today that would replace PACT while making dramatic changes to South Carolina's overall student assessment and school accountability systems.
Read More

King Day Audience Urged to Support Schools
State Superintendent urges Martin Luther King Day audience to support South Carolina school reform
Read More

Single-gender classes praised
Students have improved concentration, confidence and class participation when placed in single-gender classrooms, according to a study released by the South Carolina Department of Education.
Read More

Rex funding plan puts emphasis where it belongs: on poverty
EDUCATION Superintendent Jim Rex rolled out his "model for funding 21st century educational opportunity" to rave reviews - at least from the people who were already on board with the main ideas it contained.
Read More