Chapter 42: South Carolina

To better understand South Carolina’s education funding, it is important to review its historical roots dating back to the colonial period. Arriving from England, the first settlers of South Carolina held the belief that education was a private and voluntary matter. The affluent among them paid to have their children enrolled in private/religious schooling or educated by private tutors.¹ Limited public support existed during this time period for the children of non-affluent families of the colony. In fact, many of them were resistant to local taxes to fund public education as they saw education as a luxury for the wealthy and many farmers needed their children for farm labor.² The first legislative action taken toward establishing free public schools in South Carolina was “An act for the Founding and Erecting of a Free school for the use of the Inhabitants of South Carolina.” As a result of this act in 1710, South Carolina’s first free public school was established in Charleston.³ These common schools were funded by colonial assembly-approved dollars and were established to provide elementary (and some secondary) education to a small number of white children whose families could not afford private schooling. These were often one-room schools. Since the inception of free schools, there existed inequitable school funding, as the free schools that were initially established were primarily located in the wealthier counties in the low country.