Cuts will trim class projects

COLUMBIA --- Somber budget talks in Columbia last week equate to fewer computers, CDs and classroom supplies in school districts this year.

As part of the cuts made by the state Budget and Control Board, a state Department of Education grant program for innovative teaching ideas is facing a 10 percent reduction.

The awards range in amount from $800 to $6,000 and are distributed to public school districts and to schools operated by the Department of Juvenile Justice. The total this year was $1.2 million statewide.

The cut was a byproduct of the board's decision to cut all agencies' budgets by 3 percent because of a sour economic outlook. The state Education Department shouldered the largest amount of the $188 million reduction, about $73 million.

Still, teachers who received the grants say they'll make do. Some said they wrote the grant applications knowing uncertain budgetary conditions could deliver less than their requests.

For Aiken Elementary School teacher Marianne Swearingen, a program to teach pupils how to create podcasts on iPods will still go forward, but it might be a bit shorter on supplies.

"$1,800 is better than nothing," she said. "It would be nice to have that extra $200, but still, there are a lot of teachers that didn't get their grants. I am glad for the money I'm getting."

Ms. Swearingen said she won't be cutting the number of iPods, but she will reduce the classroom supplies, such as paper, for the program and look for cheaper Web site hosting for a site for pupils to post their podcasts.

Jill Smith, the media specialist at Aiken's Belvedere Elementary School, received a $6,000 grant for a program called Decades Days, in which pupils put on presentations about notable decades in the 1900s. Because of the $600 cut, Ms. Smith said some music CDs might get the ax.

"I was a little disappointed," she said. "We just have to pick and choose. Things like that happen."

But she noted that in the past few years the school has put on Decades Days without the grant money, relying instead of revenues from the school carnival and other activities.

Aiken's Chukker Creek Elementary won a $6,000 grant for a program that teaches pupils about South Carolina history, but teacher Holly Palmer said losing a $600 chunk could affect whether 115 third-graders are given five computers to share or four.

"We don't want to leave a classroom out," Ms. Palmer said. "I hope we can find some good deals and make those dollars stretch."

Reach Sarita Chourey at (803) 727-4257 or sarita.chourey@morris.com.