South Carolina Science Academy

The South Carolina Science Academy (SCSA) is a tuition-free public charter school in Columbia, South Carolina, open to all students that reside in South Carolina. SCSA is a publicly-funded school that focuses on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The school claims to have an enrollment of over 300 students in 6th–11th grades, adding an additional high school grade each year, but the only public information made available states the actual enrollment to be in the lower 100s. The target student population is 450 students. The inaugural year for the South Carolina Science Academy was to open in the fall of 2012, but setbacks such as a lack of location pushed that date back to 2014.

The SCSA has received a ten-year charter, has been approved the by the South Carolina Department of Education, and authorized by the South Carolina Public Charter School District in 2011. In accordance with the charter school model, an annually-elected Board of Directors composed of local business leaders, educators, and parents governs the school.

SCSA has changed hands ever since the death of its late founder, Nathan Jon. After some confusion before the start of the pilot school year (2014–15), Alisha Truesdale-Cotton was named Director. She left unexpectedly at the end of the year, along with a majority of the staff. The Board of Directors named a new Director, Kalu Kalu, Jr., mid-way through the summer of 2015.

The average wage of the teachers at SCSA is $39,571 (compared to the state average of $48,719), and 47.6% of the school's teachers were satisfied with the school's learning environment. The rate of students not taught by highly-qualified teachers is 55.4% (compared to the state average of 2.3%.