Carolina School for Inquiry
7405-A Fairfield Road, Columbia, SC 29203
Public charter school (tuition-free)
Carolina School for Inquiry is a public charter school in Columbia, SC for grades PK-6. It had 114 students in 2024-25, about 9.5 per teacher. As a public charter school it charges no tuition.
Contact Carolina School for Inquiry
School facts
- Grades
- PK-6
- Students
- 114 (2024-25)
- Teachers (full-time equivalent)
- 12 (2024-25)
- Students per teacher
- 9.5
- Level
- Elementary
- School type
- Regular public school
- Tuition
- None (public charter school)
- County
- Richland County
- NCES school ID
- 450336001463
From the U.S. Department of Education’s Common Core of Data: the public school directory 2025-26 (preliminary) for the address, phone, website, grades and authorizer; the 2024-25 membership and staff files for students and teachers. Figures move every year, so ask the school for today’s. NCES data files · Where our data comes from. Something wrong? Tell us.
What a charter school is
- Public and free. NCES describes a public charter school as a publicly funded school, usually run by a group or organization under a contract (the charter) with the state, the district or another body. The federal definition says a charter school does not charge tuition.
- Families choose it. Under the same definition, a charter school is one parents choose to send their children to, and it admits students by lottery when more apply than it has room for.
- No program badge. ChoiceFunded’s program badges and “schools that accept” lists cover private schools only. Charter schools are listed separately here, with no badge, and are never counted with private schools.
Sources: 20 U.S.C. 7221i (federal Charter Schools Program definitions); NCES, Condition of Education: Public Charter School Enrollment. Each state writes its own charter law, so ask the school how enrollment works there.
Other charter schools near Carolina School for Inquiry
- Palmetto Achievement Center for Excellence Academy (2-8, 2 mi)
- Arts Innovation and Media Middle College (AIM High) (9-10, 5 mi)
- Clear Dot Charter School (K-12, 5 mi)
- Richland One Charter Middle College (11-12, 8 mi)
- East Point Academy (PK-8, 8 mi)
- Gray Collegiate Academy (6-12, 9 mi)
- GREEN Charter School Midlands (K-8, 9 mi)
- Midlands Middle College (10-12, 11 mi)