Navigating schooling options during COVID -

District schooling plans and options

Data from DHEC

Weekly county-level date (updated every Thursday)
Cases by schools (updated on Tuesdays and Fridays)
Interim COVID-19 school guidance (updated 9-9-20)
Updated Plexiglass Use in Schools guidance (10-5-2020)

COVID-19 Vaccine

COVID-19 funding available to districts

State funding allocated through the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act for certain COVID-19 related expenses is available for school districts. The General Assembly in September authorized the S.C. Department of Education to use any unexpended and remaining funds from its $222 million allocation this past June. The estimated total amount of unexpended funds allocated in June by the General Assembly was about $130 million.

New! In an October 19 memo sent to district superintendents and school business officials, the SC Department of Education (SCDE) announced that school districts will receive a direct allocation from the remaining CARES Act Relief Funds. Based on new guidance, the SCDE is changing its original process of reimbursing school districts for eligible, COVID-19 related expenses to providing districts with direct allocations.

Receiving a direct allocation, rather than a reimbursement, districts will have until September 30, 2021 to expend the funding in four eligible areas rather than the previous deadline of December 31, 2020.
Districts have been provided with an estimate of their allocation and must sign the allocation notification and return to the SCDE by Wednesday, October 28.
Districts are required to submit to SCDE quarterly reports on expenditures.

Four eligible expenditure areas
In addition to the cost of expanding courses through Virtual SC, remaining funds are directed to be spent on school districts’ COVID-19 related costs for the following:
- School safety measures including, but not limited to, purchasing masks, gloves, wipes, hand sanitizer, face shields, cleaning solution, Plexiglas, and other cleaning equipment and supplies. (Reimbursements for school safety measures was singled out to be the department’s first priority.)
- Hiring or contracting for school nurse services for those schools that do not have a full-time school nurse.
- Tutoring, supplemental services, and support services to include services for unengaged students, interventionists, and after school learning extensions that prioritize face-to-face instruction focused on students with identified reading or math difficulties and students with IEPs to address deficits resulting from COVID-19.
- Technology purchases of devices and connectivity equipment to support online learning resulting from COVID-19.
Internet Hotspot Services

The SCDE announced in a October 19 memo that all current internet hotspots and services distributed to students will continue at no additional cost to the districts until June 30, 2021 instead of December 31 deadline. Click here to view the complete memo.

Internet Hotspots and Services

Using the requirements and guidelines as provided in a July 27, 2020 memo sent to districts from the SCDE and the Memorandum of Understandings (MOUs) between the Office of Regulatory Staff (ORS) and the SCDE, all current internet hotspots and services will be continued at no additional cost to the districts until June 30, 2021. All services currently being provided by ORS through December 2020 will be transferred to the SCDE for continuation of the program.

Ask SCSBA

Click here to submit your questions.

Where do I find DHEC’s biweekly report of school district COVID-19 cases?
What three factors does DHEC use to rate counties weekly?

Answer: DHEC is providing county-level data about disease transmission to support decision-making at the local level here. It is not meant to be a stand-alone document. This data has been regularly updated on Mondays; however, to accommodate requests from schools districts, DHEC will begin releasing this report on Thursdays instead to allow schools to make plans for the following week with the latest information available. The three factors used for this rating include: two–week incidence rate, trend in incidence rate and two-week percent positive rate.

Factors for expanding schooling options

Face-to-face, hybrid and remote learning … how are they doing that?

Q&A with districts from around the state on various schooling options