COLUMBIA, S.C. — A new report says the number of minority students in South Carolina is increasing. The South Carolina Commission of Minority Affairs says students from minority backgrounds made up over 50% of public schools’ populations.
CMA says minority students enrollment in public schools increased in 24 of the state’s 46 counties, some of the largest gains were seen in here in the midlands in Lexington and Richland counties, with a combined population of over 12,000 students. The commission says this increase has led to concerns of how schools are equipped to tend to cultural or linguistic barriers these students might have. News 19 spoke with a parent who says this was the reality for her family.
“There were no materials in Spanish, we wanted our kids to be bilingual because in the future that will be a tool for them,” Rosa Manzanero
Manzanero is a parent of two students in Richland county district schools, she raised her daughters speaking Spanish, something that was difficult when they first started school.
“There were a lot of courses for parents too, but none of them were in English, later I asked if they could offer classes in Spanish and they did and because of that I was able to get more involved and help out,” Manzanero said.
Robert Fenton is the director of research and planning for the SCCMA, he says there was the highest percentage change among Hispanic students in public schools in Lexington and Richland counties, with a 116% increase from 2013 to 2024.
“We can assume that about 70% of the students that identify as Hispanic are returning to household every single night where people speak Spanish in the household and maybe those parents don’t speak English,” Ferton said.
Ferton added, "the number of Black, White, Native American students in the state have been decreasing. This is pretty evident when you look at schools in the low country and especially in the upstate. Most of the growth is coming from newly arrived immigrants and people that identify as two or more races.”
According to the commission, minority students make up over 62% of the student population in Lexington and Richland county.
“One of the things I wanted to bring to light is that we have a bunch of communities of different cultural anchor points and we need to anticipate these changes a bit better, if we use data like this we can hopefully marshal some of the resources in a way that this state can capitalize,” Ferton said.
Now that her daughters are in high school, Manzanero says her family feels more welcome in the community.
“It brings me a lot of joy because we are all included now and I feel like education is changing in the sense that they are doing more things where we can all be involved. It makes me feel welcomed and makes me feel like I can support as well. There’s now a diversity in cultures where we can all be involved and be ourselves,” she said.