SC education department spends $2K on new logo

COLUMBIA — The state Department of Education is touting a new logo after moving to a new building last month.

“With the move to the new building, we decided it was time for a unique and updated look for our agency,” spokesman Jason Raven said in an email.

The agency paid $2,025 to South Carolina-based graphic design company Dean Bryant Creative for the design, Raven said Tuesday.

The logo features a Palmetto tree — the state’s official state tree — growing out of a book, representing education as the foundation of the state, according to a news release.

Beneath it is the year 1868, when the department was founded. The state constitution rewritten that year by a majority-Black convention of delegates — many of them formerly enslaved — promised free education for all children. (It’s the constitution that resulted in Congress readmitting South Carolina to the Union, though many of its rights were rolled back by the post-Reconstruction rewrite in 1895.)

“This beautiful logo represents our historic roots, a vision for our shared future, and the hope that we know is found in a great education,” State Superintendent of Education Ellen Weaver said in the news release.

The Department of Natural Resources will move alongside education employees to buildings at the State Farmers Market in Lexington County. The buildings are built to the agencies’ specifications after businessman Bill Stern landed a $133 million contract for the deal. The state will also pay for any maintenance and upgrades under $100,000, based on the lease agreement.

The University of South Carolina bought the Department of Education’s longtime home on Senate Street for $2.2 million in December.

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