 Education was historically a private responsibility (church-related schools, individual instruction)  The first public school, first mandatory attendance requirements, and first public governance of schools in the US were all established in Massachusetts.

 South Carolina’s first free public schools were established in  Public education is seen as a “commons problem”: everyone in society benefits from a well-educated population, and everyone is harmed by a poorly-educated population. Therefore, we have a shared responsibility to provide for it.

 Charter schools: Publicly funded but not subject to school system regulations, can design their own programs and administrative procedures  Charter schools were legalized in South Carolina in There are currently 32 operating in the state. A new school district has been created for their administration.

 Magnet schools: Grouped by academic interest (arts, sciences, foreign languages, etc.); can this achieve integration without busing?  Vouchers: State-funded grants which can be used for tuition at private schools (provides competition to public school systems, criticism is that voucher programs drain money from public schools)

 Elementary and Secondary Education Act (1965): First large-scale federal involvement in K-12 public education. Reauthorized in 2001 as No Child Left Behind Act.  Title I: Directed primarily at disadvantaged children; 94% of US public schools receive funding under this program. SC received over $178 million in Title I funding in FY  Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (originally enacted 1975): Funding for special education and additional services as needed.

 1983 federal report called for strengthening the quality of American public education  Higher educational standards  More rigorous content  Longer school day and school year  Standardized testing to measure progress  Increasing qualifications, salaries and opportunities for teachers  Better identification of needs of special groups (gifted and talented, socioeconomically disadvantaged, disabled, etc.)

 Traditionally, K-12 education was entirely a state and local matter with no involvement from the federal government  Today, only about 7% of K-12 funding is federal, but a disproportionate share of the regulations that public school systems deal with come from the federal government.

 Different states use different mixes of state and local funding.  Hawaii funds its entire school system (one statewide district) with state funds, while New Hampshire schools get 81% of their funds from local sources (state vs. local tax revenues).

 Increased funding for black schools was suggested as a way of making “separate but equal” closer to actually equal, as a way of delaying/preventing desegregation  Repeal of mandatory attendance laws during fight to keep schools segregated – children were not required to attend school from 1955 to 1967  Administrative consolidation in 1950’s – some schools had only one or two teachers, and some schools made up their own school districts; over 1200 districts reduced, now 82  Education Accountability Act (1998): Set assessment standards for student learning and progress (PASS test fulfills testing requirements for NCLB)

 Education Finance Act (1977): Guaranteed a larger share of state funding for poorer school districts while still relying on local property taxes as primary means of funding  Education Improvement Act (1984): Increased the state sales tax by 1%, with funds dedicated to public education.

 South Carolina Education Lottery (2002): funding for both K-12 education and scholarships for technical schools, colleges and universities  Only 26% of lottery income actually goes to education; most goes to administration, production expenses, and prize payouts.  Act 388 (2006): Increased sales tax in return for eliminating property tax on owner-occupied home. Shifted more of the burden for school funding on state rather than local sources but has not addressed inequities.

 SC has 82 local school districts + special statewide districts (e.g., charter schools)  Almost all districts are governed by elected school boards  23 school boards have the power to set their own tax rates for school funding  29 districts have legislative delegation or town meeting set tax rates  14 districts have County Council set tax rate  19 school districts have limited authority for their own budget and tax rates

 45 states have had lawsuits filed challenging school funding formulas on equity grounds.  In 1993, 40 poorer and predominantly minority school districts sued the state of SC challenging the proportion of funds they receive (Abbeville was first alphabetically)  1999: SC Supreme Court ruled that there is a right under the state Constitution to a “minimally adequate” public education.  : The trial depicted in Corridor of Shame took place.

 2005 (shortly after Corridor of Shame was released): The circuit court orders the state to invest more in early childhood education.  2008: The state Supreme Court is petitioned to rehear the case.  2012: The state Supreme Court rehears the case.  November 2014: The state Supreme Court rules in favor of the plaintiff districts and orders that the General Assembly and school officials work together to solve the problem.

 September 2015: The state Supreme Court orders the General Assembly to develop a plan by Feb. 1, The General Assembly asks the Court to reconsider the deadline.  The House of Representatives has a task force in place. Nothing has actually happened.

 Average annual per pupil expenditure: $11,372  Local $5254  State $4485  Federal $1633  Per capita state and federal funding levels are both higher in high-poverty districts  Federal is $3320 in Hampton District 2  State is $9241 in Marion 7  Local ranges from $1593 in Dillon 2 (93% poverty rate)  to $10,018 in Beaufort

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 Federal law enacted 2001, GW Bush Administration initiative  SC received $274M in funding  Required state authorities to develop accountability standards and assessment mechanisms for learning and student progress  Replaced in December 2015 with Every Student Succeeds Act

 Schools must demonstrate Adequate Yearly Progress among different subgroups of students (defined by race, poverty, ESL, disabilities, etc.) or receive escalating sanctions  Up to 5% of each subgroup may be excluded from testing requirements

 Increasing sanctions on schools whose student subgroups don’t demonstrate AYP  1. After two years, school must develop “school improvement plan” and students must be able to transfer to another school within the district – but what if no school in the district demonstrates AYP (which happened in Chester County a few years ago)?  2. After three years, school is required to offer “supplemental educational services”

 3. After four years, “corrective action” which may include staffing changes, curriculum reform, extension of school day or year  4. After five years, “restructuring” by turning into charter school, replacing staff, hiring outside management or turning it over to the state  South Carolina took over the Allendale County School District from 1998 to 2007

 Retains testing requirements but gives states more flexibility in determining how, what, and when to test  Schools at the bottom 5% of state assessment scores or high schools that graduate fewer than 2/3 of students, or schools where subgroups are consistently underperforming are considered failing schools, but the law does not require state takeover  $24.9 Billion in federal spending authorized in 2016.

 Developed by governors and state education department heads in 48 states, beginning in 2009  Standards in English and math from K to 12  Goal: Development of standards to make students ready for college and careers.  43 states have adopted these standards.  (South Carolina reversed its decision to adopt Common Core and developed its own standards.)  This is not a federal initiative, but the Obama Administration has offered funding incentives for states to adopt the standards.

 Studies consistently indicate that states with “abstinence-only” sex education programs have higher rates of teenage pregnancy than states with comprehensive programs (i.e., containing information about contraception, HIV prevention, etc.)  As of 2012:  19 states require comprehensive sex education  37 states require that sex education programs include information on abstinence  Of these, 26 states require that abstinence is taught as the main method of pregnancy prevention  mix/wp/2015/05/07/texas-high-school-with-chlamydia- outbreak-has-abstinence-only-sex-ed/ mix/wp/2015/05/07/texas-high-school-with-chlamydia- outbreak-has-abstinence-only-sex-ed/