Met yesterday with the folks at the South Carolina Area Health Education Consortium, an MUSC based group that tries to promote improved healthcare in rural areas. They offer a limited number of $70,000 grants over three years to physicians who want to practice in rural or underserved areas.
Somehow $70,000 spread over three years does not seem like much in the world of physician income and expenses.
Also, despite the fact that rural South Carolinians face major healthcare problems, our state government has cut funding for this MUSC group by half since 2008. So much for the state’s focus on rural healthcare.

Here’s one of the ideas I’ve received for trying to help end some of SC’s disparities:

Recent Clemson study says 2006 property tax relief has hurt 16 poor school districts in SC. and left 24 others with less money per pupil.
The study is called “Act 388 Revisited” and the authors urge SC legislators to consider taking a comprehensive review of how the state funds schools.
The report also warns that the state’s lacking funds fro schools threatens to hurt the state’s ability to attract business and industry.”
“If South Carolina wishes to be competitive in attracting and retaining industry and to offer opportunities for all of its citizens, it is important that the state’s share of education funding be not only adequate but also distributed in an equitable manner among rich and poor districts, so that the quality of a child’s education is less dependent on the wealth of the school district in which he or she resides.”

Check out Brian Hicks column in The Post and Courier today, postandcourier.com, He places blame for the continued disparities in SC on a state government and legislature who do little about substantive issues facing teh state.

Interesting, the Governor’s office requested a bundle of Sunday’s Post and Courier newspapers containing the first day of my series “Forgotten South Carolina.” I’d like to know what she thinks of it and the deep disparities outlined in the series, including what it is about South Carolina today that perpetuates the disparities in education, health and economic opportunity.

We face similar issues in Appalachian Ohio. Regarding education, one thing that has helped our district is having an excellent, experienced grant writer who aggresively finds resources. Yes, this money has strings attached but it places funds in the district nonetheless. Recently a technology grant provided smart boards for the schools…an immediate and tangible difference. Our local community foundation has also made a small but postitive impact within the schools. Unfortunately, you can have beautiful new facilities (which we do) and programs in place but ultimately the change needs to occur at home. Parents talking with their children, reading to them and telling them that they are good enough. Last year I met a kindergartener who had already decided that he wouldn’t be going to college…heartbreaking.

Here’s a very interesting Kaiser Foundation study indicating that if SC and other states accept the extension of Medicaid to the uninsured, they will save money or spend relatively little:

http://www.kff.org/medicaid/upload/8384.pdf

On March 3, The Post and Courier will run the fourth part of my series “Forgotten South Carolina.” That day I will offer some of the possible solutions to Forgotten South Carolina’s many problems. I found them during my eight months of research by talking with more than 100 government officials, politicians, scientists, educators, historians, economists etc. and reading numerous studies and documents. The solutions I offer certainly are not the only ones. If you have a possible solution to offer to Forgotten South Carolina’s lacking education, poor health and missing economic opportunity please let me know and I will share them with our readers.

Sorry about that last blog. I forgot to save the top, so here’s a summary:

Next Sunday, I’m going to take a hard look at two high-poverty school districts. One, Clarendon District 1, that has found the magic and has its children performing at a high level — ahead of Charleston Count’s schools, and just below Greenville’s. The other district is Allendale County that ranks near the bottom in student performance in a state that ranks near the bottom nationally. We’ll take a look at what makes the difference and the lessons that can help other districts with high poverty schools, such as Charleston County where some of the best high schools in the state – even nation, exist along side three of the worst performing in SC. Sadly, Allendale had seemed to be on the path toward turning itself around with the visionary leadership over the last two and a half years of superintendent Dr. Harold McClain, however, he was suddenly fired late last month by the newly elected school board — once again denying the district consistency in leadership. He was the sixth superintendent or interim superintendent since 2006 when the state DOE returned control of the troubled schools to the county board of education.

My series on South Carolina’s disparities in education, health care and economic opportunity is to begin Sunday and run every Sunday after for four Sundays at which point I will begin covering the issue of disparity as a beat.

In the series we used census data and numerous other date on health, education and economic opportunity to show that 26 of the state’s 46 counties have generally been left behind in those three categories while the metropolitan and coastal counties have basically caught up with the nation as a whole.

We separated Forgotten and Modern South Carolina by using five different measures, such as poverty level and county health rankings.

The series essentially shows what it is about South Carolina today that perpetuates these deeply rooted disparities. On the last day of the series we offer some possible solutions gleaned from my eight months of research.

If you have any solutions to offer, please send them to me here or on my forgotten South Carolina facebook page – www:facebook.com/forgottensouthcarolina or email me at dpardue@postandcourier.com