BEAUFORT, S.C. — The Beaufort County School District collected nine Excellent ratings when the state issued its 2026 school report cards, its highest total since the state began using its current accountability system in 2018.
More than 94% of the district’s report cards landed at Excellent, Good or Average, and for a third year running no school was rated Unsatisfactory. Half of the district’s high schools reached the top tier.
Bluffton High has now been rated Excellent six years in a row, and Okatie Elementary five. Hilton Head Island High and Bluffton Middle reached Excellent for the first time under the 2018 system. Closer to downtown, Beaufort High, H.E. McCracken Middle and Michael C. Riley Elementary each climbed from Average to Good, and two more schools, Whale Branch Middle and St. Helena Elementary, moved up a notch to Average after Below Average ratings a year earlier.
On the SC READY tests for grades three through eight, 61.9% of district students met or beat expectations in English language arts this year, and 49.7% did so in math. Both marks are district highs for the current tests.
The gains arrive as statewide ratings climb, with nearly six in 10 South Carolina schools improving their scores. The state Education Oversight Committee, which sets the standards behind the ratings, intends to recalibrate them once 2026 National Assessment of Educational Progress results come out in January 2027.
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