South Carolina's school-business partnership: A case study of business involvement in public education

In 1983, South Carolina installed a Business Education Partnership (BEP) program at the state level to monitor its public school system. The business community of South Carolina was invited to promote a complicated policy change partnership in the state's public schools, which would unfold slowly.;A case study methodology was used to carry out this descriptive study. Data were obtained through personal interviews with 27 original, former, and present representatives of the South Carolina Business Education Partnership. The business involvement in South Carolina was successfully sustained between 1983 and 1989 because of the vibrant role of Governor Riley, and Governor Campbell continued the momentum of the BEP by legislatively mandating it.;Campbell continued the BEP, thus sustaining action, but he used it quite differently than Governor Riley and held a very different attitude about it, which in fact hindered its efforts. Top business leaders and major corporations became less interested in public school reform, thereby weakening the BEP.;South Carolina's school-business partnership program was a success because that state's business community succeeded in sustaining public interest in public school reform, although at a reduced rate over 13 years.;Recommendations for successful business involvement in state-level policy partnerships must include: (1) the governor as the foremost cheerleader for educational reforms; (2) CEOs and upper management serving on long-standing policy partnership committees to ensure that the voice of the business community is heard in the educational reform process; (3) policy partnerships with a commitment from the state business community and state chamber of commerce; (4) important members of legislative committees that fund education programs, as well as members of any state-level policy partnership; (5) membership in a state-level policy partnership of editors of the top newspapers in the state to ensure education remains at the top of the public policy agenda.