Schools in Mullins, SC

The city of Mullins, South Carolina, is served by four public schools within the Marion 10 school district, which ranks in the bottom 1st percentile statewide, and these schools collectively serve students from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade in a small, rural community.

For parents, the most important takeaway is that this district faces significant challenges, but there are bright spots worth noting. Mullins High is the clear academic leader, with a graduation rate of 88.4% that beats both the district and state averages, and it is the only school to have earned a 3-star rating in recent years. Its performance is volatile, however, swinging from the 6th percentile to the 51st percentile in just one year, which suggests that improvement is possible but not yet consistent. In contrast, Palmetto Middle is the most stable performer, with 8th-grade English Language Arts proficiency at 40.2%, higher than the district average, though its math scores are alarmingly low—just 9.2% and 10.2% proficiency in 6th and 7th grade. McCormick Elementary shows a wide range in ELA, from 28.9% to 48.5% proficiency depending on grade, but math proficiency is critically low across the board. North Mullins Primary has no test scores but stands out for having the lowest student-teacher ratio (10.3) and the highest per-student spending ($19,656), along with the lowest chronic absenteeism rate (24.5%) in the district.

Chronic absenteeism is a district-wide crisis, with Mullins High at 42.4%—nearly double the state average—and all schools exceeding the state’s 22.3% threshold. Despite high per-student spending ($15,000–$20,000), academic outcomes remain in the bottom 5% statewide, pointing to deeper issues beyond funding. At the high school level, there is a stark subject divide: Algebra 1 (65%) and English 2 (80%) proficiency are near or above state averages, while English 1 (39%) and U.S. History (41%) lag far behind. The missing free/reduced lunch data limits socioeconomic analysis, but the combination of low scores and high absenteeism suggests significant economic challenges in this community.