EXPLANATION: Allows the Education Scholarship Trust Fund to accept applications after the March 31 deadline.

Amend the bill, as and if amended, Part IB, Section 1, DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, page 299, after line 35, by adding an appropriately numbered proviso to read:

/ (SDE: Education Scholarship Trust Fund) Pursuant to the funds appropriated to the Education Scholarship Trust Fund program, the department may accept scholarship applications on a rolling basis after the March 15th deadline, if available space and funds exist. The ESTF program may accept any student who meets the requisite age specifications and is the child of active-duty military personnel who was killed while on active-duty status or an active-duty member of the Armed Forces of the United States who has received permanent change of station orders to a military base and who, as a result, will reside in South Carolina and meets the requisite age specifications. For the current fiscal year, the requirements of Section 59-8-140(F)(1) and Section 59-8-115 (E)(4)(b) are suspended. /

Amend totals and titles to conform.