End School Corporal Punishment

Map › South Carolina

South Carolina

Legal in public schools

Unchanged since 1973: each district's governing body 'may provide corporal punishment for any pupil that it deems just and proper.' No statutory limits and no State Board regulation. 85 students in 2021-22, 23 in 2017-18. No bill on school corporal punishment filed in the 2023-24 or 2025-26 sessions. District-by-district status unverified; an Island Packet explainer of September 18, 2025 likely has a tally.

The law

S.C. Code § 59-63-260 text

Private schools are not covered.

No statutory limits: no consent requirement, no disability exemption, no witness or record rules.

Sources: 1 2 · verified 2026-09-09

Students struck

YearStudentsBlackBoysWith disabilitiesPer 1,000
2017-1823
2021-22854439160.11

US Department of Education Civil Rights Data Collection. Students, not incidents; 2023-24 computed by this project from the raw file.

Counties

South Carolina has 79 school districts in 46 counties. Each district is drawn in the colour of its own policy; hover one for its name and rule, click to jump to its row. Counties show through where no district is recorded yet.
Greenville Bamberg Chester Union Florence Saluda Anderson Greenwood Charleston York Jasper Beaufort Chesterfield Dorchester Clarendon Darlington Dillon Georgetown Hampton Lancaster Lee McCormick Pickens Sumter Allendale Abbeville Williamsburg Aiken Horry Colleton Laurens Fairfield Kershaw Oconee Spartanburg Berkeley Edgefield Orangeburg Newberry Lexington Marlboro Barnwell Cherokee Marion Richland Calhoun
A district's policy allows it (1)No written rule found; the district reports using it (10)Every sourced district prohibits it (1)District policy not yet checked (5)No district recorded yet: state law applies (29)

The map is counties, and most counties hold several districts: green when every recorded district prohibits it, striped when some prohibit and some permit, red when a district permits it. The table below is district by district. Counties take the state's status unless a recorded district differs. Boundaries: US Census Bureau (public domain). District policies with a source link are verified; the rest were carried over from the original map and are being re-checked.

Districts

21 of 79 South Carolina districts listed; 14 checked against the district's own policy. The rest are marked not checked: the pre-2026 map carried a status for them with no source, and the first ones re-checked in 2026 were wrong more often than not, so those values are shown only as a note and are not used to colour the map. Help check this state.

"Struck 2023-24" is the district's own figure from its own Civil Rights Data Collection filing, joined by federal district id. A blank means the district is not among the 832 the collection names, which can mean it reported none or that it reported nothing at all — the public-use file does not distinguish the two, so no claim is made either way.

DistrictCountyPaddlingStruck 2023-24PhonesAIHS startSourceVerified
Anderson 01AndersonProhibitspolicy found & read2026-09-24
Barnwell School District 45BarnwellNo written rulepolicy found & read2026-09-29
Charleston County SchoolsCharlestonNot checked
old map said bans		none yet
Clarendon County SchoolsClarendonNot checked
old map said allows		none yet
Dorchester School District 2DorchesterNo written rulepolicy found & read2026-09-29
Florence School District 1FlorenceNo written rulepolicy found & read2026-09-29
Governor'S School For Science And MathematicsDarlingtonNo written rulepolicy found & read2026-09-26
Greenville County SchoolsGreenvilleNot checked
old map said bans		none yet
Greenwood School District 50GreenwoodNo written rulepolicy found & read2026-09-29
HamptonHamptonAllowspolicy found & read2026-09-25
Horry County SchoolsHorryNot checked
old map said bans		none yet
Lexington School District 4LexingtonNo written rulepolicy found & read2026-09-29
OrangeburgOrangeburgNo written rulepolicy found & read2026-09-26
Orangeburg County SchoolsOrangeburgNot checked
old map said allows		none yet
Richland County SchoolsRichlandNot checked
old map said bans		none yet
Richland School District 2RichlandNo written rulepolicy found & read2026-09-29
Spartanburg School District 2SpartanburgNo written rulepolicy found & read2026-09-29
Spartanburg School District 4SpartanburgNo written rulepolicy found & read2026-09-29
Spartanburg School District 7SpartanburgNo written rulepolicy found & read2026-09-29
Williamsburg County SchoolsWilliamsburgNot checked
old map said allows		none yet
York School District 1YorkNo written rulepolicy found & read2026-09-29

In the news

Do something

Parents

File the written refusal with your child's school. In this state the burden is on you to say no; the school must honor it.

Everyone

Write the board or your legislator with the numbers above. The templates cite only verified facts.

Agents

Every district in this state needs a sourced policy entry. The district scan takes about an hour per 40 districts.