Category: Education

H.4691 would designate the second full week in November as Youth ATV Safety Week. During this week each class in public schools Kindergarten through 12th grade would be required to…

H.4621 transfers ten institutions of higher education to not-for-profit organizations, for the purpose of operating them as private institutions. The institutions specified and the transfer timetable are as follows: July…

H.4497 creates the Student Interscholastic Activities Fund, which would provide financial assistance to high school students by covering expenses related to extracurricular activities, including fees, dues, equipment, uniforms, etc. The…

S.934 and H.4575 would each require the board of trustees of each school district to prohibit students from using “wireless communication devices” (cell phones) during school hours. There may be…

S.907 would extend the application deadline for independent schools wishing to participate in the exceptional needs tax credit scholarship program from August 1 2015 to March 1 2016. Under the…

UPDATE: The bill has been amended to include an additional requirement for qualifying schools, namely that they must provide a specially designed program or learning resources center or onsite educational services…

H.4536 requires children to attend school until the age of 18 instead of 17. This is a violation of individual rights. It is the jurisdiction of the parents or legal…

H.4531 allows the University of South Carolina at Lancaster and Winthrop University to offer in-state tuition rates to residents of three bordering North Carolina counties (Mecklenberg, Gaston, and Union), provided…

H.4530 would consolidate South Carolina’s school districts so there is only one district per county. Under the current arrangement South Carolina has nearly twice as many school districts as it…

UPDATE: The bill has been amended to limit the report to actual instances of violations of the institution’s student code of conduct. The report would include both organizational violations and student…

H.4482 would require all public school students to wear school uniforms. The broad standards of the uniforms would be determined by the state Department of Education (DOE), but school principals…

H.4459 and H.4460 would each increase the size of scholarships available under various state provided higher education scholarship programs. H.4459 would: Increase the size of scholarships available under the Palmetto…

H.4437 requires high schools to use a certified athletic trainer throughout high school interscholastic football games. “Certified athletic trainer” is defined as a person certified as an athletic trainer by…

H.4435 would require that every public school district provide elective instruction in advanced manufacturing for students in grades 6-12. For purposes of the law advanced manufacturing is defined as “activities…

H.4433 would require all students in grades five through twelve receive annual instruction in swimming and water safety. An exception made for the swimming requirement for any schools without a…

H.4432 would mandate that school bus drivers, school crossing guards, and resource officers wear body-worn cameras. The State Department of Education (DOE) would develop guidelines governing the use of the…

H.4415 would prohibit private school buses that don’t conform to State Board of Education regulations on “painting, lettering on the front and rear of the bus, use of stop arm…

H.4407 permits private school students to participate in public school interscholastic activities under the same terms that charter school students, Governor’s school students, or home school students are permitted to…

H.4382 requires the Department of Education, Election Commission, and county voter registration boards to make sure all seventeen-year-old high school students complete a voter registration form, to be submitted by…

Update: This bill was amended and much was taken out from the original legislation. The Council is now essentially a glorified study committee, which will “make recommendations to the General Assembly…

H.4330 – Parental Right to Refuse Assessments Act – would give parents the power to excuse their children from the many K-12 standardized tests administered in this state. The bill…

H.4081 directs the Legislative Audit Council to conduct management performance audits of every public institution of higher education in South Carolina every ten years on a staggered schedule. The cost…

 S.702 would give charter schools opening after July 1, 2015 the ability to administer enrollment preferences from an attendance zone specified by the local school district sponsoring the charter school.…

H.4051 aims to amend the Constitution by exempting persons seeking to serve on the governing body of a public college or university in this State from possessing the minimum qualifications…

H.4042 could have a significant impact on the future of high school education in South Carolina. The bill would require successful completion of three high school-level “virtual learning credit units”…

H.3705 would require the State Board of Education to develop or adopt curricula, materials, and guidelines for local school boards to use in implementing diversity awareness instruction programs in kindergarten through…

H.3686 would establish a system by which South Carolina education funds follow the child, at least in the case of disabled children. The bill would allow the parents of a disabled…

S.475 would replace the current board of regents at South Carolina State University (SC State) with a new five member board with one member each appointed by the: Senate President…

H.3663 would remove the sitting president and board of trustees from South Carolina State University. In their place each member of the Budget and Control Board (BCB) would appoint a designee to…

Companion bills H.3534  and S.185 would expand the number of higher education institutions eligible to receive funding from the South Carolina Higher Education Excellence Enhancement Program (itself funded by the lottery). Specifically…