Columbia – Ellen Weaver, Founding President and CEO of the Palmetto Promise Institute, has been elected as the new Chair of the South Carolina Education Oversight Committee (EOC). Weaver is the first woman to hold the position of Chair since the committee’s formation in 1998. 

Weaver has served on the EOC since 2016, when she was appointed as the business representative of the Chairman of Senate Education Committee. She replaces Neil Robinson, who has twice served as Chair of the committee.

Weaver received her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Bob Jones University, graduating Summa Cum Laude. From 2001 to 2013, Weaver worked in the offices of former U.S. Senator Jim DeMint. She served as State Director of Sen. DeMint’s Columbia-based office from 2010 to 2013. Prior to that, she worked in Washington, DC for DeMint while he was a senator and member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

A resident of Columbia, Weaver currently leads the Palmetto Promise Institute, a non-profit policy education organization launched in 2013.

Weaver serves on the board of the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities and is a deacon at the First Presbyterian Church of Columbia. In her spare time, she is an avid reader, dog lover and musician who loves to travel.

“Our Southeastern neighbors are demonstrating that with high expectations and bold action, real progress is possible to close achievement gaps and elevate every student,” stated Weaver. “I am confident that South Carolina students can achieve and compete with any students in the nation, if we as education leaders are brave enough to change,” said Weaver.

The SC Education Oversight Committee is an independent, non-partisan group made up of 18 educators, business persons, and elected leaders. Created in 1998, the committee is dedicated to reporting facts, measuring change, and promoting progress within South Carolina’s education system.

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