Results show we can

make tremendous progress

Two disturbing new national rankings made headlines on the same day: South Carolina's per capita income dipped to 86 percent of the national average. And our SAT scores dipped - to 97 percent of the national average. ...

Since 1998, our math and reading scores on the SAT have increased by 34 points, from 951 to 985, while the national average went up just four points, from 1,017 to 1,021. In other words, we've slashed our gap by nearly half - from 66 points to 36 points - in just nine years.

You don't get that kind of improvement by wishing for it, and you don't get it by ''throwing money at the problem,'' as critics of the public schools like to claim we've been doing. You get it by coming up with a smart plan and seeing it through.

The smart plan that's gotten our SAT scores up to 97 percent of the national average involved tougher academic requirements in high school. The smart plan that should result in further gains in the next couple of years includes the ''virtual school'' program the state Education Department began testing this year, which makes advanced courses available to more students. ...

But our results so far demonstrate that we can make tremendous progress. And we have no choice but to do that - unless we're content with making just 86 cents for every dollar that our fellow Americans make.

The (Columbia) State

A rabbit that jumped

out of the hat after they left

The more we read about the problems that could be created by a new requirement that out-of-state doctors get temporary South Carolina medical licenses before giving court testimony, the wiser we deem a decision recently by the South Carolina Supreme Court that has delayed enforcement. ...

The new requirement is part of the revised, voluminous medical licensing act passed just before lawmakers broke for the year. Senate President Pro Tempore Glenn McConnell tells us that the provision took him by surprise and was never discussed on the floor. He said any discussion about expert testimony in court proceedings should have come before the Senate Judiciary Committee which he chairs. ''This is just one of those rabbits that jumped out after we left.'' ...

The temporary license provision will stay suspended until the Legislature provides the high court with ''further clarity.'' Specifically, the justices suggested the legislation be subjected to ''close scrutiny'' by the Judiciary committees of both bodies.

Had those committees been given the legislation to scrutinize from the outset it's unlikely the Supreme Court would have had to get involved.

The (Charleston) Post and Courier

Lawmakers largely

to blame for DSS woes

Budget cuts have hurt the ability of the child protective services agency to do its job adequately.

Who's to blame for the problems at the state Department of Social Services? Primarily, it's the fault of state lawmakers who have underfunded this agency to the extent that it's not able to adequately protect children against abuse and neglect.

Years of budget cuts resulted in the elimination of 27 percent of the agency's work force - about 1,300 workers - since 2001. With case loads getting larger and larger, it's no wonder agency workers are not able to do their jobs.

A recent audit of the agency found that DSS child protective services has repeatedly violated the law in recent years. It found DSS had not seen all its child abuse victims and their families each 30 days, a DSS policy, nor had it completed abuse investigations within 60 days, a state law. ...

The Legislative Audit Council has performed an important service to the state by bringing to light troubling problems that should have been aggressively exposed by state leaders. LAC should follow up this audit with another one in the coming year. DSS, one of the state's most important agencies, has too few advocates among state leaders. That needs to change.

The Greenville News