State Profiles of Public Elementary and Secondary Education, 1996-97

Teacher to all other staff ratio

Teacher to administrator ratio

South Carolina South Carolina Department of Education, 1429 Senate Street, Columbia, SC 29201	Download, view and print South Carolina's report as a pdf file. 331KB
Superintendent of Education Superintendent Inez Tenenbaum, (803) 734-8492
National Cooperative Education Statistics Liaison David Burnett, (803) 734-8215
Common Core of Data Survey Coordinator Jo Ann Kerrey, (803) 734-8260

1987	1996	Demographics
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS


614,921	652,816	Students in public elementary and secondary schools
1,103	1,088	Public schools
35,701	41,463	Teachers in public elementary and secondary schools
31,055	31,055	Land area in square miles
19.8	21.0	Public school students per square mile
3.6	3.5	Public schools per 100 square miles

Figure 1
School-age population in public elementary and secondary schools

1987	1996	Fiscal summary

3,381	3,717	State population (in thousands)
$2,152	$3,671	State revenue per capita
$1,871	$3,417	State expenditure per capita
$388	$551	State expenditure for elem. and secondary education per capita
$86,217	$129,162	Gross state product per school-age child

1987		1996		Distribution of agencies by type
AGENCY/SCHOOL INFORMATION


100%	95	100%	104	Total public education agencies
95.8%	91	91.3%	95	Regular school districts
0.0%	0	8.7%	9	Regional service agencies
3.2%	3	0.0%	0	State-operated agencies
1.1%	1	0.0%	0	Federally operated and other types

1987		1996		Distribution of agencies by number of schools

0.0%	0	0.0%	0	100 or more schools
8.4%	8	6.7%	7	25 to 99 schools
31.6%	30	30.8%	32	10 to 24 schools
26.3%	25	24.0%	25	5 to 9 schools
33.7%	32	30.8%	32	1 to 4 schools
0.0%	0	7.7%	8	No schools reported

Figure 2
Regular school districts by student membership size

1987		1996		Distribution of schools by type

100%	1,103	100%	1,088	Total public elementary and secondary schools reported
92.6%	1,021	93.9%	1,022	Regular schools
1.9%	21	0.9%	10	Special education schools
4.5%	50	3.8%	41	Vocational schools
1.0%	11	1.4%	15	Other and alternative schools

Figure 3
Distribution of public schools and students by type of locale: 1996-97

Figure 4
Public schools by size of student membership

1987		1996		Number of public schools by grade span category

44.6%	492	47.3%	515	PK, K, 1 to 3, 4, 5, 6
2.7%	30	1.8%	20	PK, K, 1 to 8
15.9%	175	18.2%	198	4, 5, 6, to 6, 7, 8
4.7%	52	3.3%	36	7 to 8, 9
3.4%	38	2.6%	28	7, 8 to 12
14.8%	163	14.9%	162	9, 10, 11 to 12
9.3%	103	8.1%	88	Other grades
0.0%	0	0.0%	0	Ungraded
4.5%	50	3.8%	41	Not reported

1987	1996	Public school membership by grade
STUDENT INFORMATION


—	8,408	Prekindergarten
41,725	47,374	Kindergarten
55,612	49,497	First
50,052	53,547	Second
48,256	51,849	Third
47,256	50,598	Fourth
47,544	51,214	Fifth
45,984	52,384	Sixth
47,749	52,194	Seventh
47,407	50,625	Eighth
54,003	61,962	Ninth
47,599	48,314	Tenth
43,138	39,304	Eleventh
38,596	35,546	Twelfth
—	—	Ungraded

Figure 5
Public school student membership by racial/ethnic category

1987	1996

—	11.7%	Students in special education with IEPs
—	40.0%	School membership eligible for free lunch
—	18.9%	School-age children below poverty

1987		1995		High school completers and dropouts

100.0%	36,000	87.7%	30,182	Regular diploma
	—		—	Other diploma
	—	6.3%	2,178	High school equivalency
	—	6.0%	2,050	Other completers
	—		2.9%	Dropouts
			60.1%	Dropouts who were male
			50.1%	Dropouts who were minority

Figure 6
Grade 8 1996 Mathematics and Science average scale scores for the state (

) and nation (

) and the 25th (

) and 75th (

) percentiles

Grade 4	Grade 8	1996 Mathematics and Science achievement levels

213.2	260.8	Average Mathematics scale score [scale 0 to 500]
51.6%	51.8%	Students below basic level
48.4%	48.2%	Students at or above basic level
11.8%	13.7%	Students at or above proficient level
1.0%	1.9%	Students at advanced level
—	138.5	Average Science scale score [scale 0 to 300]
	55.0%	Students below basic level
	45.0%	Students at or above basic level
	17.2%	Students at or above proficient level
	1.4%	Students at advanced level

1987		1996		Educational staff
STAFF INFORMATION


100%	62,557	100%	76,730	Total education staff
				Instructional staff
57.1%	35,701	54.0%	41,463	Teachers
9.0%	5,652	10.3%	7,907	Instructional aides
				Support staff
1.9%	1,170	2.0%	1,546	Guidance counselors/directors
2.7%	1,671	2.3%	1,738	Librarians/library support
7.2%	4,486	6.4%	4,905	Administrative support
17.7%	11,093	21.1%	16,222	Other support services
				Administrators
3.2%	1,994	2.9%	2,223	School-based
1.3%	790	0.9%	726	School district officials/administrators

Figure 7
Average number of students per teacher, by grade level

Figure 8
Average salary of full-time teachers by years of experience

Figure 9
Distribution of public school teachers by age

1987	1993	Preparation of teachers: highest degree earned

0.5%	1.1%	Public school teachers with no degree
50.4%	49.1%	Public school teachers with a Bachelor's or lower degree
43.0%	43.4%	Public school teachers with a Master's degree
6.0%	6.3%	Public school teachers with a degree beyond Master's

FY88	FY97	Federal aid to education under selected programs (in thousands of current dollars)
FISCAL INFORMATION


$57,677	$98,371	National school lunch
$8,841	$28,323	National school breakfast
$62,059	$95,631	Title I
$25,606	$49,943	Education for the handicapped
$16,299	$17,649	Vocational and adult education
$11,148	$18,412	School improvement
$5,809	$2,904	School assistance (federally affected areas)
$0	$131	Bilingual education
$0	$6	Indian education

Figure 10
Revenues by source

Figure 11
Current expenditures by function

FY88	FY97	Revenues and expenditures (in current dollars)

$2,175,842	$3,889,383	Revenues (in thousands of dollars)
$3,538	$5,956	Revenue per pupil in membership
$1,932,502	$3,296,661	Current expenditures (in thousands of dollars)
$3,143	$5,048	Current expenditure per pupil in membership