Former SC Education Superintendent Dr. Barbara Nielsen dies

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) – The first woman ever elected to serve as South Carolina’s Superintendent of Education has died.

Dr. Barbara Nielsen, who served two four-year terms as education superintendent from 1991 to 1999, died Tuesday, current Education Superintendent Ellen Weaver said in a statement.

“Today South Carolina has lost an education champion, and I have lost a dear friend and mentor. Barbara believed fiercely in the God-given potential of every student and dedicated her life to equipping them to reach it,” Weaver said. “As a teacher, administrator, and State Superintendent, she was tough but fair, and she never lost faith in the hope found in a great education.”

Gov. Henry McMaster called Nielsen’s death “a profound loss” for the state. He said she was “a true pioneer and an inspiration to many.”

“Her commitment to modernizing and reforming our education system transformed the lives of thousands upon thousands of our children. To honor her legacy, I will order the State House flags lowered to half-staff on the day of her funeral,” McMaster said in a statement.

Weaver said that even in retirement, Nielsen never stopped fighting for students and teachers.

In 2023, Nielsen chaired the state’s 17-member Teacher Recruitment and Retention Task Force. The panel was tasked with finding ways to recruit and retain teachers in the state.

During a presentation of a report released in June of 2023, Nielsen said being a teacher is “not an easy job,” saying it was very different from when she went to school and was very different even when she was the state superintendent.

“Our professionals that work in our school need to be respected, they need to be recruited, they need to be retained, and they need to be supported,” Nielsen said at that presentation.

While superintendent, Nielsen pushed for key legislation on education reform, most notably the state’s 1998 Education Accountability Act and laws that established the state’s first statewide full-day kindergarten program and that allowed for the creation of charter schools in South Carolina, the Department of Education’s website states.

Before serving as state superintendent, Nielsen worked in education for thirty years as a teacher, an administrator, and an educational consultant, her bio states. She graduated from the University of Dayton in Ohio and received a doctorate degree in educational administration and planning and a master’s degree in guidance counseling from the University of Louisville in Kentucky.

“Her wit and wisdom will be greatly missed, but her shining legacy lives on forever in the lives of the students and state she served,” Weaver said.

Funeral arrangements were not immediately available Tuesday evening.

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