Parents, teachers, students (9th grade or above), and community member representatives serve on a SIC, as do the school's principal and other ex-officio members.

State law requires that every K-12 public school in South Carolina convene a SIC. The law states that it is the responsibility of the local school board to ensure SICs are constituted within each district. This includes career, vocational, and technical schools. Public charter schools may convene a SIC but it is not required by law.

SIC's duties focus primarily on the school improvement process. SICs:

• provide input and feedback during the development of the school's five-year renewal (improvement) plan and annual updates;
• assist in the implementation of school improvement programs and activities;
• monitor and report on progress toward improvement goals in the annual SIC Report to the Parents and with the principal in the narrative for the SC School Report Card;
• provide other assistance as requested by the principal.

Members of the public can find out whether their community's schools have convened SICs in compliance with state law requirements, as well as the names of current SIC members, by clicking the "Read Only" function on the SC-SIC Member Network homepage. SICs are required by law to report membership information to the Member Network by November 15 every year. The public can also use the "Read Only" function to view recent SIC Reports to the Parents posted to the Member Network by their schools. 

Local SICs are not funded and do not have a budget. SIC representatives serve on a volunteer basis and SICs are not authorized to handle monies or maintain their own bank accounts. SICs can write grant proposals or request monetary or in-kind donations on behalf of their school so long as these are made directly to the school, PTA/PTO, or other authorized organization. SICs can also request that their school or district provide funding for SIC-sponsored initiatives such as family and community engagement events or to cover the cost of training for SIC members. The SC School Improvement Council (SC-SIC), housed within the University of South Carolina College of Education, receives funding annually from the State General Assembly to provide training, resources, materials, and other assistance to local SICs statewide.

• Because when parents are engaged in their children's education, their children do better in school and the quality of the school improves.
• Because parents bring wisdom to the Council. They have in-depth knowledge of their own children's strengths and needs as well as the perspectives of other families in the school.
• Because community members who are NOT parents of children in schools still benefit from good schools in the form of a stronger local economy and property values.
• Because citizens who are NOT parents of children in schools also have unique contributions to make to School Improvement Councils. Senior citizens, business people, members of the faith community, staff of social service agencies, and others all have knowledge, experiences, and resources that can benefit their community's schools.

SIC was first created as School Advisory Council in 1977 with the passage of the Education Finance Act.  In 1984, the Education Improvement Act changed the name from Advisory Councils to School Improvement Councils and assigned specific duties that focused on improving the quality of schools. The role of SICs has continued to expand with the passage of the Early Childhood Development and Academic Assistance Act (Act 135) of 1993, the Education Accountability Act of 1998, and the Read to Succeed Act of 2014.

The provisions of these laws affecting SICs have been codified in the SC Code of Laws, Title 59, which can be accessed online free of charge on the SC State House website.