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The role of the local school quality in 1980 to 1990 economic development in South Carolina was investigated using school and community-level data. School quality was measured by high school test scores and student-to-teacher ratios. Findings indicate that school quality does matter, especially in the more geographically isolated rural areas. Both population and employment growth were relatively large in hinterland rural areas with lower student-to-teacher ratios, and population growth was greatest in metro-fringe rural areas with schools reporting high average test scores. Yet rural growth also was influenced by other factors (public services and infrastructure availability, low taxes relative to public expenditures, and high quality of life and housing). The economic development benefits of good local schools will be diminished if the rural area is deficient in other factors important to growth.