Summary:
The city of Union, South Carolina, is served by the Union 01 school district, which includes four schools—two elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school—covering grades PK-12 for approximately 2,502 students.
For parents, the standout school in this district is clearly Monarch Elementary, which consistently earns a 2-star rating and outperforms its peers by a wide margin. In 4th-grade math, Monarch achieves a 70.8% proficiency rate—nearly 19 points above the state average—while its 4th-grade ELA proficiency (66.6%) also edges out the state. By contrast, Foster Park Elementary is struggling significantly, with its ranking dropping to the bottom 6% of the state and a 0-star rating. Despite spending the most per student ($16,083), Foster Park's 4th-grade science proficiency sits at just 13.2%, a steep 17-point decline from the prior year. This spending-versus-performance paradox suggests that factors beyond funding—such as school culture and instructional quality—are driving outcomes.
At the secondary level, Sims Middle shows a bright spot with a perfect 100% proficiency rate on the Algebra 1 EOCEP exam, but overall middle school proficiency lags state averages by roughly 10-15 points in both ELA and math. The transition from elementary to middle school appears to be a critical weak point, as strong 4th-grade gains at Monarch are not sustained by 6th grade. Union County High faces the most serious challenges, with a graduation rate of 83.6% (3.1 points below the state), a dropout rate more than double the state average (4.7% vs. 2.1%), and declining rankings over the past three years. Chronic absenteeism is a district-wide concern at the secondary level, with both Sims Middle (33.7%) and Union County High (32.9%) seeing roughly one in three students chronically absent—compared to just 13.9% at Monarch Elementary. These attendance issues likely contribute to lower test scores and higher dropout rates, making them a top priority for district leadership.
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