Just not enough trained workers

Some employers’ frustrations with federally funded work force centers in South Carolina highlight a need for streamlining this system that connects trained workers with needy employers. They also point out the need for South Carolina to do a better job of training workers in the first place. ...

The problem isn’t necessarily the centers themselves. Some companies in the state have used them effectively. One example is Michelin, which said in the newspaper report that the centers have met its needs whenever they’ve been called upon to help recruit workers. ...

The businesses’ complaints highlight another ongoing problem in work force development: South Carolina just is not producing enough trained workers for its industries.

While coordination would help, there’s also a need for better education in this state. Part of that can be addressed by convincing the state’s students that a high school diploma no longer is enough to earn a living. South Carolina must also focus on improving its graduation rate and making higher education more affordable to all state residents. While that’s not easy in lean economic times, neglect during better times has exacerbated the problem during the recession.

South Carolina gets $1 billion a year in federal money for work force development, according to the newspaper report. That money needs to be spent more efficiently in order to have the greatest impact.

The Greenville News

Reassuring news for parents

A USC survey of students shows confidence in the school’s campus health center. Students and parents alike have reason to take heart from the University of South Carolina’s No. 1 ranking in students’ sexual health. Those who compile the annual rankings note that a variety of factors go into the decision, including student opinions of the school’s health center, that center’s hours of operation, the availability and cost of contraceptives, doctor’s appointments and testing for sexually transmitted diseases. USC students apparently give their health center high marks.

That should be reassuring to parents who might wonder whether their children have a reliable place to go on campus to be treated or get information about sexual matters. And students also must feel secure enough to know that they will get confidential care.

USC officials take pains to point out that while they are proud the survey indicates they are doing a good job promoting sexual health, that isn’t the same thing as promoting sex. ...

In other words, supplying students with contraceptives and information about how to use them does not appear to encourage rampant sexual activity. The same, no doubt, holds true for younger students as well.

The (Rock Hill) Herald

A clearly bad state law

Even though it turned out that the delay in getting him to the hospital did not kill Jadan Myers-Pugh, the 3-year-old’s death already has prompted officials to begin talks about ending what clearly seems a too-bureaucratic and potentially dangerous policy that prohibits Columbia firefighters from driving Richland County ambulances in emergencies.

We hope publicity surrounding his tragic death also can serve as a catalyst to fix a clearly bad state law.

When a reporter for The State asked to review the incident report and recordings from the EMS call, he ran headfirst into an obscure five-year-old law and a two-month old attorney general’s opinion that said that when it comes to emergency medical services, the public has no right to monitor how its government works.

Actually, the law is worse than that. Most secrecy laws merely allow governments to hide information from the public. This law requires it. ...

Senate Medical Affairs Chairman Harvey Peeler, who says DHEC asked him to sponsor the bill to comply with federal medical privacy laws, says he had no idea how much it shut off public scrutiny. That’s deeply disturbing, as is the fact that other legislators seemed to be caught unaware by its breadth as well. But at least Mr. Peeler has vowed to fix the law; that’s something that shouldn’t require a lot of debate.

Officials at DHEC, on the other hand, have expressed no alarm about its scope, saying only that they are reviewing the law to determine whether changes are needed. Fortunately, that’s not DHEC’s call. And the fact that the agency pushed for this change without making it crystal clear to lawmakers just how breathtakingly broad it was raises troubling questions about how much legislators can trust its advice.

The (Columbia) State