Lawmakers, educators frustrated over SC school report card delay

COLUMBIA, S.C (WSPA) – Families and educators across South Carolina were expecting to see school report cards Monday, but they may not see them until November.

Under state law, school report cards are usually released in September, but a proviso in the state’s budget granted the South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE) more time to finalize data.

Even with the extended deadline, which passed this week, report cards remain unavailable.

State leaders like Rep. Neal Collins (R – Pickens) and Rep. Terry Alexander (D – Florence) expressed concern over the delay, as well as what it could mean for school accountability and public transparency.

“This should be priority number one in the [state education] Department, and for us to have to delay it is just mind boggling to me,” Collins said.

Officials said the SCDE sent embargoed report cards to school districts for review, but school districts quickly noted data inconsistencies, pushing the timeline back as far as November.

“We shouldn’t even have to ask for it,” Rep. Alexander remarked. “They know at a certain time what that data needs to be hidden so that we could make the report.”

Dana Yow, Executive Director of the Education Oversight Committee (EOC), echoed similar thoughts.

“It’s the citizens of South Carolina that deserve this this report card to be accurate and timely,” said Yow. “[The] College Board had not reported to the Department yet. There was a need to go back to the districts to do some auditing and make certain what the districts have for students is what the State Department has.”

While the SCDE insisted that accuracy is their top priority, lawmakers blamed the department, accusing the agency of poor communication and staffing issues.

“I have teachers who don’t know where they stand,” Collins added. “They’re all always fearful if they’re going to get moved or if they’re going to get fired.”

SCDE spokesperson, Jason Raven, said the amount of data requires more time to verify.

“Given how many data inputs are pulled together to create a school report card, both the Department and districts require extra time to verify and validate the final ratings,” he said in a statement.

As of now, it remains unclear exactly when the report cards will be made public, but Yow confirmed that officials are aiming to release them the first week of November.