South Carolina Education Superintendent Molly Spearman says she won't run for a third term. Spearman said Wednesday after 40 years of service as a teacher, lawmaker and education official she wants to devote more time to her family. The 67-year-old superintendent says she plans to keep working to get education out of problems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and advocate for students and teachers until her replacement is sworn into office in January 2023. A Republican, Spearman often clashed with lawmakers and others in her party. But she also pushed them toward her key issues — raising teacher pay and their morale, improving education standards, replacing school buses and helping smaller districts get more state support.

South Carolina's Supreme Court has ruled lawmakers can try to prevent local school districts from requiring masks in classrooms. But the ruling is trumped by a federal court decision two days ago that suspended the ban because federal law trumps state law. The state Supreme Court ruling Thursday does say districts can both require masks and follow the state rule if they can find a way to not spend state money enforcing the wearing of face coverings. The federal ruling says the South Carolina Legislature's ban on mask requirements discriminates against medically fragile students who can't feel safe in public schools without face coverings.

The leader of South Carolina's schools says districts now have the authority to require masks in the classroom. State Education Superintendent Molly Spearman wrote the memo Wednesday, a day after a federal judge ruled with the parents of disabled students who said a state ban on mask mandates discriminated against them during the COVID-19 pandemic. The temporary restraining order went into effect immediately. Republicans Gov. Henry McMaster and state Attorney General Alan Wilson promised to appeal the suspension of the provision in the budget passed by the Republican-dominated Legislature. Spearman's memo says districts should consult their lawyers to make sure they give medically fragile students the accommodations they need.

Health care workers and educators in South Carolina are doubling down on calls for lawmakers to roll back a provision that bans masks in schools. Pediatricians, school nurses and teachers on Tuesday described the toll the coronavirus pandemic is taking on students and in children's hospitals. They want lawmakers to repeal a state rule that prevents school districts from using state money to enforce a rule requiring masks. More than 88,000 students and staff have been quarantined this school year so far. Schools have recorded nearly 21,000 COVID-19 cases this fall, almost 7,000 more than they counted all of last year.

If the old book is true, if all one really needs to know is learned in kindergarten, then Gloria Gainey celebrated more than a birthday recently. She celebrated generations of Fort Mill children turning adults, who know plenty due to her.Gainey is a kindergarten assistant at Fort Mill Elementary School. She turned 80 on Sept. 8. She started her role as a kindergarten teacher back in 1975."I just love it," she said. "I love 5-year-olds and everything. I enjoy doing the work. It's just a fun job. I've always felt like Fort Mill was my school family."

The Education Department says it's investigating five Republican-led states that have banned mask requirements in schools, saying the policies could amount to discrimination against students with disabilities or health conditions. The department's office for civil rights sent letters to education chiefs in Iowa, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Utah. Those states have barred schools from requiring masks among students and staff, a move that the department says could prevent some students from safely attending school.

South Carolina State University has decided to keep its acting president as its temporary leader as a search continues for a permanent replacement. University trustees voted 12-1 on Wednesday to change Alexander Conyers' title from "acting president" to "interim president." Trustees chairman Rodney Jenkins says Conyers has shown formidable leadership skills since taking over in July after former President James Clark was fired.

South Carolina students will again be required to wear masks on school buses starting Monday as COVID-19 cases among children and students are rising rapidly. The state Education Department told schools in July they did not have to make students on buses wear masks. But the agency changed its mind in a letter Thursday, bringing it into line with federal health rules about masks on buses.

Some Republican governors are using federal pandemic assistance to promote school choice programs, including charter schools and vouchers for private schools. The money comes with few strings attached, and it lets them sidestep legislative approval.

Some school districts and counties, and the City of Columbia have defied the state prohibition and ordered mask mandates in schools sparking growing pressure on the General Assembly to meet to repeal the prohibition.