COLUMBIA, S.C. — State officials have launched a new online tool that allows easy public access to how each school district in South Carolina spends taxpayer dollars.
The new Education Funding Dashboard was unveiled Wednesday by South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, the S.C. Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office (RFA) and South Carolina Department of Education Superintendent Ellen Weaver.
The dashboard allows users to analyze and compare school districts by revenues, expenditures, academic performance, and other key measures presented in five different sections:
- Funding: This tab presents a summary of total and key expenditure and revenue items at the state or school district level.
- Quick Facts: This tab allows users to compare an individual school district to statewide measurements in twelve financial and performance categories.
- Compare Districts: This tab allows users to compare selected school districts by twelve financial and performance categories.
- Aid to Classrooms: This tab shows statewide and district-level data regarding Aid to Classrooms funding.
- Scatter Plots: This tab allows users to see a visual and statistical comparison of school districts by various combinations of twelve financial and performance categories.
Officials said the new dashboard is meant to provide an additional layer of transparency and accountability to the state's school districts by allowing parents and taxpayers to easily see how each school district spends taxpayer dollars.
"The unveiling of this dashboard is an essential step in providing increased transparency and accountability into how our school districts choose to spend taxpayer dollars," said Governor Henry McMaster. "I have repeatedly said that a lack of transparency will cause the public and our communities to lose confidence in our local school boards and schools. This dashboard will provide the public with increased confidence in how our state's school districts operate."
The dashboard follows Governor McMaster's 2022 education funding reform that simplified funding by consolidating several separate funding streams and ensured that state dollars follow the child and do not go to excessive administrative or overhead costs. The governor's education funding reform included a requirement for the creation of this dashboard through proviso 1.3 of the annual general appropriation act.
“This is about transparency, and I have said for a long time that the way that we build trust in public education is through transparency," said South Carolina Department of Education Superintendent Ellen Weaver. "I want to thank the RFA, the general assembly, and the governor for their support of this incredible vision that I truly believe is going to help us move our education system in South Carolina forward."
All data used in the dashboard are provided by the local school districts to the South Carolina Department of Education.
The dashboard can be accessed here.