Special Report
Education

South Carolina

May 03, 2005 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Despite a downward trend in funding for educational technology, South Carolina is trying to stretch its dollars to start and maintain certain programs.

Five years ago, state lawmakers allotted $40 million for K-12 educational technology efforts, but that figure has steadily dropped. For the 2004-05 school year, it was $15.9 million.

And in March 2005, legislators were debating the composition of a new state budget that, under one version, would cancel all state funding for school technology, sending a lump sum to local districts to decide spending priorities on their own.

Regardless of how the funding decisions play out, the state has started several technology initiatives in 2004 and early 2005 that it hopes to keep afloat.

The state’s first online professional-development system began in early 2004. It was offering more than 50 courses and had reached more than 1,100 educators through February of this year, says Don Cantrell, the state education department’s coordinator of technology media services. Most of the courses were for teacher- license renewal, but some also were offered for graduate school credit, he says.

Proceeds from the South Carolina lottery have paid for a new student-identification system in which every pupil will be assigned a unique number. The system is scheduled to be launched in June in seven school districts, and the state is requesting $800,000 annually from the legislature to take the system statewide permanently. The system can keep track of students through high school, and officials were in talks with universities to expand the system into higher education.

Also, South Carolina used federal money to hire and train 30 full-time instructional technology coaches, who are assigned to needy rural and urban schools across the state. The coaches work full time with teachers to help them learn how to use technology effectively in their teaching.

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Classroom Technology Webinar
How to Leverage Virtual Learning: Preparing Students for the Future
Hear from an expert panel how best to leverage virtual learning in your district to achieve your goals.
Content provided by Class
English-Language Learners Webinar AI and English Learners: What Teachers Need to Know
Explore the role of AI in multilingual education and its potential limitations.
Education Webinar The K-12 Leader: Data and Insights Every Marketer Needs to Know
Which topics are capturing the attention of district and school leaders? Discover how to align your content with the topics your target audience cares about most. 

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Education From Our Research Center What's on the Minds of Educators, in Charts
Politics, gender equity, and technology—how teachers and administrators say these issues are affecting the field.
1 min read
Stylized illustration of a pie chart
Traci Daberko for Education Week
Education Briefly Stated: August 30, 2023
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
8 min read
Education Briefly Stated: August 23, 2023
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
9 min read
Education Briefly Stated: August 16, 2023
Here's a look at some recent Education Week articles you may have missed.
8 min read