Shared Services

Free and Lower-Cost Internet: Under the federal CARES Act, the federal government appropriated $1.9 billion to South Carolina. The South Carolina legislature met in June to appropriate those funds to various efforts at responding to the covid-19 crisis. Act 142 directs the Office of Regulator Staff (ORS) to fund free hotspots and monthly internet access through December 2020 for poverty student households as part of that response. The ORS has also negotiated similar pricing for district-funded purchase of hotspots and internet for any households not eligible for the free offer.

Getting Started with Shared Services: The S.C. Department of Education is ready to assist districts in collaborating on shared services, to facilitate agreements, to assist consortia, and to generate ideas on where districts might see the best return on investment from these efforts.

Collaborative Services with the SCDE: The S.C. Department of Education is offering services to districts that wish to collaborate with other districts, contract for services from the SCDE, pool resources for PowerSchool hosting, coordinate technology services, and expand career and technology offerings to students.

Food Services - KPI System: The Office of Health and Nutrition offers access to Key Performance Indicator software that allows school districts to compare food service performance with other districts.

Technology: The S.C. Department of Education is offering districts participation in group services (backup and recovery, hosted PowerSchool), technical assistance, IT health checks, and use of a Nexpose IT vulnerability scanner.