While segregating schools based on race was no longer legal, other forms of segregation continued. Many communities remained racially segregated because of a history of unequal housing laws and loans. School zones were drawn to emphasize housing segregation that already existed.
School Reform in South Carolina
In the decades following school integration, the South Carolina legislature had not invested in public schools. Many were unhappy with the state’s low scores on standardized tests and poor rankings in national listings of school quality. The state of South Carolina needed large-scale reform of the school system. In the 1980s, Governor Richard Riley led a movement to change South Carolina’s school funding system.
South Carolina’s Education Improvement Act
Working closely with business leaders, Riley developed public support for school reform. This resulted in the passage of the South Carolina Education Improvement Act (EIA) in 1984. The EIA added money to school budgets based on a formula to help the poorest districts.
The EIA had significant impacts. More students took Advanced Placement and foreign language courses; four-year-old pre-kindergarten became more available for low-income families; and SAT scores increased, especially for African American students. However, in the decades following its passage, the South Carolina General Assembly has decreased other areas of school funding. This means that the EIA money has had to stretch further than intended, with rural schools such as those in Clarendon County feeling this the most.
Resources in South Carolina Schools
Families and educators from across the state have pushed the state government to increase funding for schools. This was supported by research and reporting that found that South Carolina’s rural schools along the Interstate 95 corridor struggle a great deal more than urban schools. These 17 counties, including Clarendon County, are often referred to as the “Corridor of Shame” to highlight the neglect from the state. This was also the title of a 2005 documentary film that explored education in the region.
Data from National Center for Education Statistics.
In 1993, 40 school districts in South Carolina sued the state for underfunding. The first hearing was in Clarendon County. Most of the districts were rural, low-income communities that struggled to fully fund schools locally. The case, Abbeville County School District, et al., v. South Carolina, went through the courts for over two decades. The South Carolina Supreme Court ruled in 2014 that the governor and legislature, “have failed in their constitutional duty to ensure that students in the Plaintiff Districts receive the requisite educational opportunity. Thousands of South Carolina’s school children – the quintessential future of our state – have been denied this opportunity due to no more than historical accident.” However, just three years later, the same court – now with new members – overturned this ruling.
Today, South Carolina’s schools still fall near the bottom of the list in most national rankings of statewide educational systems.
Schools in Clarendon County today face the same issues as rural districts across the state. Schools are underfunded and almost 84 percent of students in Clarendon County public schools come from low-income households. In the 2023-2024 school year, Clarendon County’s graduation rate was 89.8 percent, higher than the state average of 85.4 percent.
However, in almost every other category used to measure academic success, Clarendon County fell below the state average, which is already well below the national average. In reading and math scores Clarendon falls below the state as a whole, as it does in U.S. History and Biology. While 30 percent of South Carolina students graduate college- and career-ready, only 19 percent of students in the Clarendon County School District do.
Data source: SC School Report Cards
Segregation Today
Clarendon County schools also show the continuing impact of segregation. While white people make up about 50 percent of Clarendon County’s population, white students account for only 36.5 percent of the population in the public school district. The differences are stark at individual schools in the district. In the 2023-2024 school year at Scott’s Branch Middle and High Schools, 13 out of 331 students were white, accounting for 3.9 percent of the student body. At East Clarendon Middle-High School, white students accounted for 518 out of 728 students, or 71.2 percent of the population. Two public schools in Clarendon County have a white majority student body – East Clarendon Middle-High and Walker-Gamble Elementary – and account for 59 percent of the white students in Clarendon County schools. At the nine other schools in the district, African American students outnumber white students by at least 2-1.
Meanwhile, many private schools have a significant white majority. Clarendon Hall School, founded in 1965 in response to desegregation efforts, had an 89.5 percent white student body during the 2019-2020 school year. Laurence Manning Academy, established in 1972, was 96 percent white during the 2021-2022 school year. As in many places, schools in Clarendon County remain effectively segregated in practice, if not by law.
Data from National Center for Education Statistics.
Data from National Center for Education Statistics.
Detail, Student Demographics in Clarendon County Private and Public Schools
Clarendon County After 70 Years
Despite the continued challenges faced by the schools in Clarendon County, people in the community have worked tirelessly to preserve the memory of Briggs v. Elliott. There are historical markers in front of churches where meetings were held, at the schools students attended, and at the home of the Briggs family. At the Historic Scott’s Branch High School, which is now a Community Resource Center for Clarendon School District One, a memorial garden honors those who fought for better educational opportunities in Clarendon. Recently, there has been a petition to rename Brown v. Board to Briggs v. Elliott in recognition of its role as the first case.
In 2022, Summerton High School and Scott’s Branch High School became part of the Brown v. Board of Education National Historical Park.
