February 10, 2012

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New online public school now enrolling students

April 10, 2009 By

They call it “virtual education.”  Online learning can be a great option for many types of students, and now South Carolina students and their families have that option. Provost Academy,a public high school designed to address student needs on an individual basis, is in its first year in the Palmetto State and expects to reach its first year cap of 1000 students by August. Jeff McCoy leads Community Outreach for the on-line program.
He says it’s like a regular school. “Provost  Academy is a school without walls, a virtual school, a public high school, so if you are zoned to attend a public high school, you’re also zoned to attend this cyber high school.”

McCoy says Provost Academy may be helpful for students who want to work during the day and attend school at night, or who want to get away from the school environment for a year. It’s not a correspondence course and should not be considered an “easy way out.”    “This is full-time school, but they can do it as it meets their needs.  They don’t have to show up in person. They don’t have to sit in a class or drive to their school. The can roll out of bed in the morning, open up their laptop that we provide them, and they’re sitting in school.” 

McCoy says the option brings teachers to the students, and brings students to the teachers.  “One of the limitations of physical schools is teachers have to be physically there.  So you don’t necessarily have teachers accredited in those types of courses living in that geography.  But if you open up the geography to the entire state, and you ask teachers to teach at different hours, you find a lot more teachers who’re qualified.”

For more information click here.

Filed Under: Education, News

Stimulus Task Force has much work ahead

April 10, 2009 By

The state’s task force to oversee $2.8 billion in federal stimulus money held its first meeting this week.Task force chair, state Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom says, to begin, the group of 18 state agency heads had to get organized. Members formed working groups for five areas: accounting, audit/verification, reporting, guidance and web management.

Eckstrom says it’s important “that we identify the money and follow it closely to make sure that this money that we weren’t expecting to get, this money that’s really getting thrown at us, is followed and monitored closely and that the spending is controlled so that there is no waste at all.”

The South Carolina Stimulus Oversight, Accountability and Coordination Task Force, was actually mandated in stimulus regulation…and created by executive order of the governor. The comptroller general says that with this responsibility —- comes great risk.

“Our reputation are at risk with this money,” says Eckstrom, “and it’s my goal to make sure our reputations don’t get tarnished. The best way to do that is to put the recipients on notice on the front end that this money will be tightly controlled.”

He plans for the task force to become the state’s clearing house for stimulus information so that all of the reporting that is called for by regulation can be consolidated and rolled in together.

“Because it falls on us, this task force, to report this information for the state back to the federal government, once a quarter.” says Eckstrom

Filed Under: Economy, News, Politics & Government

Retailers expecting sales to ‘spring’ back in April

April 10, 2009 By

Retailers hope to rebound from a slow March and with Easter and other events around the corner, it appears they will. Retailers say this March, the numbers were down compared to last March, but according to Dr. Richard Clodfelter of the Retail Department at University of South Carolina, it is very difficult to draw those comparisons. “It makes it very difficult to compare,” said Clodfelter.

“That’s what most retailers do. They compare last year to this year and Easter is the only holiday that fluctuates. When Easter falls a month later, that affects those kinds of comparisons. Also, just the number of shopping weekends (will affect it).  I think I read somewhere that this year, March had one less Saturday than last year’s March.”

Clodfelter says with Easter falling in April this year and other events like The Masters and The Heritage this month, the numbers should begin to improve this spring. He says consumers like to dress to impress during these events and that will drive the sell of apparel up. “I did see one thing on the Master’s where the scalping for the tickets and badges were down compared to last year,” he said.

“They still fill the golf course and when they do that, people try to dress to impress, you know, they buy things. Whether it’s dinner out–or what else–anything at the mall, that kind of thing.”

Clodfelter says retailers are expecting increases this April compared to last April. “They’re looking for at least an uptick in sales,” according to Clodfelter.

“One of the things that is hard to compare, you know, some of the numbers I saw come out this morning, is comparing this year’s March sales to last year’s March sales and they’re down. Last year, Easter was in March. So, I think it has a tremendous impact on you when you start comparing sales.

“I think a lot of retailers are looking for a little more of an uptick here in April.”

Filed Under: Business, Economy, News

SCDE asks for donations towards financial literacy program

April 10, 2009 By

It’s tax time again and the South Carolina Department of Education and the Financial Literacy Board of Trustees want to remind you that it’s a good time to donate to the financial literacy campaign started in 2005.  The plan is to educate children, K through 12, about financial responsibilities such as how to balance a checkbook, what a home mortgage is, and how to plan for retirement. The program is funded completely by donations and the South Carolina Internal Revenue Service makes it easier to contribute. look for line 28 on your 1040 or you can use Form I-330 to submit. BJ Linnenbrink of the Department of Education says your donations can help start programs within South Carolina schools. “Ideally, as we get more and more money built up, we will start a grant program to grant money out to school districts to help them implement a financial literacy program in their schools,” said Linnenbrink.

Linnenbrink says the financial literacy will be adapted to fit in to the core curriculum. BJ Linnenbrink says that though the program is not in dire need of funds, it is completely reliant on donations. “It’s not a problem,” he said.

“It’s just, you know, the only money we bring in is through donations. So, any money we can get that way is beneficial to help us try and move this program forward.”

Filed Under: Economy, Education, News

Legislature off this week: Stimulus funds issue places “white hot” spotlight on the Governor

April 10, 2009 By

Both the Senate and the House were on furlough this week, but the state’s hot political topic remained the battle over the $700 million in stimulus cash controlled by the state’s chief executive. Governor Sanford sticks by his guns that he will not ask for the bulk of the stimulus money he controls unless he can use it to pay down debt. The White House has twice said no. Sanford took his fight to the Internet in a web commercial sponsored by “Carolinians for Reform.”

In the commercial, Sanford attempts to spell out his position concerning the merits of not taking the money. “For me the easy thing would be to accept money handed out from Washington, but the easy thing is not always the right thing. We proposed a budget that responsibly addresses our state’s critical needs without more debt. To get there we have  to finally restructure the broken ways our government operates. There is a better way than sadling our chldren with massive debts. That is what I’ll continue to fight for.” [Read more...]

Filed Under: Economy, Politics & Government