SC Corridor of Shame & Teacher Turnover Rates

South Carolina is number 11! You may ask: South Carolina is number eleven in what? In college football? Best vacation spots? South Carolina is number 11 in the subject of teacher turnover rates. This means that the rate of teachers that leave and/or quit is one of the highest in the country. The turnover rate in South Carolina can range anywhere from 7% to 31%. This past year, over 6,000 teachers left and their spots had to be filled by a different teacher or a substitute. 

According to Island Packet Newspaper in Beaufort, two factors that contribute to this high turnover rate are the high cost of living, along with startlingly low salaries. Beaufort has a turnover rate of 13% and last year, only 85% of their teachers returned. Looking at a county with a similar rate, not too far from Charleston highlights the disparities that children and teachers in South Carolina are facing.

The Education Finance Act in South Carolina is a big part of how SC education plays out. The program puts in place a weighing system used to distribute funds in different districts based on property taxes. In simpler terms the more affluent the district is, the better the schools are. Schools within the Corridor of Shame experience neglect when having to deal with poorly dated books and student desks falling apart. Not only do the children have to spend hours at school to get their education but the teachers have to teach in these poor conditions. It is a huge factor that plays in why the SC turnover rate is so high. When talking about schools within the Corridor of Shame, former principal of Estill High in Hampton Country described it as “difficult to recruit teachers to teach in that type of community”. 

The Corridor of Shame is, “the nickname for the region of rural, impoverished school districts mainly along Interstate 95 burdened by poorly performing schools”(Al Jazeera). The amount of counties in this corridor is shameful. This location is well-known by South Carolina residents and it is sad to think about the children that attend these schools and cannot do anything to help themselves. 

Now that we have some background on what teacher turnover rates are, allow me to explain my piece. The inspiration for this piece came from a graph seen on The Times and Democrat Newspaper website. Like my piece, it breaks down the turnover rate for each county and, in some places, even the district. In counties like Oconee and Horry, the turnover rate is 3-9% and is represented by a light orange color. A rich orange covers most of the painting and this is because it represents the rate of 10-19%. It takes up most of the painting and highlights places like Charleston and Richland. Some of the highest rates come from Marion and Williamsburg and are contrasted the most with a deep red-orange color. The counties just mentioned also have a neon orange border to draw even more attention to them. This border is to represent each country within the Corridor of Shame in South Carolina. 

I really wanted to stick with the theme of keeping everything orange due to the fact that orange is a color that represents shame. The shades between the three shades of orange are almost indistinguishable if you are not paying attention. I decided to keep it this way because I feel as though almost all of these numbers are saddening. In my eyes, all of these percentages are displaying room for improvement. South Carolina Education is crucial for the sake of the state's future.