Goodbye Minimally Adequate: Support the Constitutional Amendment for a High Quality Education in South Carolina

Judge Thomas Cooper

Judge Thomas Cooper of South Carolina’s Third Circuit Court dismissed the Abbeville case in 1993, denying the plaintiffs' contention.

In 1998, the case reached the South Carolina Supreme Court on appeal and the court ruled in 1999 that the state constitution does, in fact, require that South Carolina’s system of public education offer a “minimally adequate education,” which was defined as one that produced students who could read, write and do basic math calculations. The Supreme Court returned the case to Judge Cooper for trial to determine if there was a factual basis to the plaintiff districts’ complaints.

In 2004, Judge Cooper presided over 103 days of trial in the Abbeville case – the longest trial in state history. After a year of deliberation, he ruled on December 29, 2005 that the State did not provide a “minimally adequate education” in early childhood education, but further held that the State’s system of public education in grades K-12 did meet minimally adequate standards.

Both the plaintiff districts and the State of South Carolina filed motions to reconsider with Judge Cooper in 2006. Both motions were dismissed another year later in July, 2007 and the plaintiff districts, now 36 school districts due to the consolidation of two districts since 1993, voted unanimously on September 6, 2007 to appeal their case to the South Carolina Supreme Court.

Oral arguments before the State Supreme Court will be held in June, 2008 with a decision in the case likely in the Fall of 2008.

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