Some Interesting SC Education History Facts

From the Lucas Blog:

1811 – The SC General Assembly first passed a law establishing free public schools in the state.

1895 – The SC Constitution established a 3-mill levy on various properties to finance the schools.

1921 – Compulsory attendance laws required children to attend school. Interestingly, compulsory attendance was repealed in 1955 because of the Brown v. Board of Education decision. Compulsory attendance laws were restored in the state in 1967.

1930s – SC took on more of a responsibility for education and required a six-month school year (a doubling of the previous days required for schooling).

1977 – SC approved the Education Finance Act and established a defined program for public schools. The state was to assume, on average, seventy percent of the funding for local schools.

1984 – SC approved the Education Improvement Act with the sales tax going from 4% to 5%. The extra penny was dedicated to raising student performance.

1998 – SC approved the Education Accountability Act which established the “report card” system of school accountability.

1994 and 2006 – The SC General Assembly passed laws to provide relief in property taxes for homeowners which substantially altered the funding for schools. The 1994 legislation provided relief on the first $100,000 of property value, and the 2006 legislation (Act 388), created another one-cent sales tax increase to remove owner occupied property from school operations taxes.