State school in a rut, transformed by head of academy (5,8)

'state' is the definition.
(South Carolina is an example)

'school in a rut transformed by head of academy' is the wordplay.
'transformed' indicates anagramming the letters.
'by' says to put letters next to each other.
'head of' suggests taking the first letters.
The initial letter of 'academy' is 'a'.
'school'+'in'+'a'+'rut'='schoolinarut'
'schoolinarut' anagrammed gives 'southcarolin'.
'southcarolin'+'a'='SOUTH CAROLINA'