South Carolina General Assembly
117th Session, 2007-2008

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Indicates New Matter

H. 4391

STATUS INFORMATION

General Bill
Sponsors: Reps. E.H. Pitts, Cotty and Mulvaney
Document Path: l:\council\bills\gjk\20453sd08.doc

Introduced in the House on January 8, 2008
Currently residing in the House Committee on Education and Public Works

Summary: Public school choice program established

HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS

     Date      Body   Action Description with journal page number
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  12/12/2007  House   Prefiled
  12/12/2007  House   Referred to Committee on Education and Public Works
    1/8/2008  House   Introduced and read first time HJ-57
    1/8/2008  House   Referred to Committee on Education and Public Works HJ-57
    1/9/2008  House   Member(s) request name added as sponsor: Mulvaney

View the latest legislative information at the LPITS web site

VERSIONS OF THIS BILL

12/12/2007

(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

A BILL

TO AMEND TITLE 59, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO EDUCATION, BY ADDING CHAPTER 62 SO AS TO ESTABLISH THE SOUTH CAROLINA PUBLIC SCHOOL CHOICE PROGRAM WHEREBY EACH SCHOOL DISTRICT BEGINNING WITH THE 2009-2010 SCHOOL YEAR SHALL DEVELOP AND BEGIN IMPLEMENTING A PUBLIC SCHOOL CHOICE PROGRAM DEVELOPED BY IT PROVIDING A CHOICE OPTION FOR STUDENTS AT THE ELEMENTARY, MIDDLE, AND HIGH SCHOOL LEVEL, TO ALSO PROVIDE THAT SCHOOL DISTRICTS BEGINNING WITH THE 2009-2010 SCHOOL YEAR MAY ESTABLISH VOLUNTARY OPEN-ENROLLMENT PROGRAMS, AND TO PROVIDE FOR THE REQUIREMENTS OF AND PROCEDURES FOR THESE PROGRAMS.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION    1.    Title 59 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding:

"CHAPTER 62

Public School Choice Programs

Section 59-62-10.    (A)    There is established a Public School Choice Program within the public school districts of this State.

(B)    In establishing this program, it is the objective of the General Assembly to provide a consumer-driven approach to increase education opportunities that are accountable and accessible to all students regardless of where they may live or their socioeconomic status. In doing so, it is the General Assembly's desire to make the South Carolina public school system the most choice-driven public school system in the United States. It is therefore the intent of the General Assembly that this chapter be construed broadly to maximize parental choice options and student access to public school educational opportunities that are now not available to them.

Section 59-62-20.    As used in this chapter:

(1)    'School district choice programs' mean a public education delivery system that requires school districts to provide for student programs of choice offered within the district which may include, but not be limited to, public charter schools, virtual school programs, extended day or school year programs, flexible school scheduling programs, Montessori programs, single-gender programs, learning-team programs, magnet-school programs, arts programs, and school-within-a-school programs and to provide for school assignments to these programs using the parents-indicated preferential choice as a significant factor for assigning students within the district.

(2)    'Open enrollment' means a public education delivery system that allows participating school districts to make assignments of students residing outside of the students' district of residence based on a partnership agreement between districts and using the parents-indicated preferential choice as a significant factor.

(3)    'District of residence' means a school district in which the parent or guardian of a student resides.

(4)    'Parent' means the parent or legal guardian of a student of the State.

Section 59-62-30.    (A)    Through the Office of Public School Choice, the State Department of Education shall provide school districts with information on various school choice programs, promising practices information, professional development, assistance in planning for transportation needs, and technical assistance for developing and implementing public school choice programs throughout the State.

(B)    The Office of Public School Choice shall conduct a statewide inventory. The inventory must be designed to collect information on choice programs available in districts and choice options parents would like to see implemented in their district of residence. With the information received from the statewide inventory, the Office of Public School Choice shall compile and disseminate the results to the school districts of the State and members of the General Assembly. The office shall maintain a list of school choice options by district and by school level. The list must be made available on the State Department of Education's Web site.

(C)    The Office of Public School Choice shall provide information to all school districts regarding obstacles that have the potential of interfering with the implementation of quality school choice programs and shall make recommendations for overcoming and avoiding those obstacles. The information provided also shall include estimated costs associated with the implementation of various choice options.

(D)    During the 2008-2009 school year, each school district of the State shall convene a School Choice Committee. The committee shall include, but not be limited to, members representing parents, community and business leaders, teachers, and students. The committee membership shall represent the ethnicity and geographic diversity of the district. With assistance from the Office of Public School Choice, the School Choice Committee shall develop an action plan which must be incorporated in the school renewal plan for providing parents and students choice options within the district and shall include a timeline and budget proposal for implementation of the identified options. Each district shall submit their plan to the Office of Public School Choice for review, and if necessary the Office of Public School Choice shall provide recommendations. Districts having plans currently in place also shall submit their plans to the Office of Public School Choice.

Section 59-62-40.    (A)    Beginning in the 2009-2010 school year and succeeding school years with available funds, each school district of the State shall begin implementation of their school choice plans. At a minimum, each district shall begin by providing a choice option for students at the elementary, middle, and high school level. With approval from the State Department of Education, districts may utilize technical assistance funds provided pursuant to Section 59-18-1595 to assist in the implementation of school choice plans.

(B)    During the 2009-2010 school year, each district School Choice Committee, established pursuant to Section 59-62-30(D), and school district administration shall examine the feasibility of establishing a partnership with neighboring districts to participate in a voluntary open enrollment program that would provide for the nontuition-based movement of students across district lines. Through joint meetings with other district committees, committees shall examine the benefits and barriers to establishing partnerships. Upon completion of the examination, each committee shall report its findings to its district board of trustees. The report must identify at least one possibility for providing education opportunities to students residing outside their district of residence. As a component of the report, the committee shall also identify the amount of additional funding, if any, needed to implement the interdistrict option. Additionally, the committee is encouraged to identify possible funding sources for implementing the identified option.

(C)    After receiving and examining the report on open enrollment submitted by the School Choice Committee, districts desiring to participate in a voluntary open enrollment program shall submit to the Office of Public School Choice an agreement outlining the district partnerships established for participation in the program and agreed upon program criteria.

(D)    Districts choosing to participate shall:

(1)    accept students on a nontuition basis;

(2)    choose students through a lottery drawing if more students desire to participate than space is available. The lottery drawing must be conducted with the participation of all districts taking part in the pilot; and

(3)    not discriminate on the basis of disability, race, creed, color, gender, national origin, religion, ancestry, or need for special education services.

(E)    Districts participating are not required to:

(1)    make alterations in the structure of a requested school;

(2)    establish and offer a particular program in a school if the program is not currently offered in the requested school; or

(3)    alter or waive an established eligibility criteria for participation in a particular program, including age requirements, course prerequisites, or required levels of performance.

Section 59-62-50.    The State Department of Education shall issue a report to the General Assembly by January 1, 2010. The report shall include, but not limited to, types of choice options being implemented in each school district, number of students participating in each choice option, number of students unable to participate because of limited availability of a specific district choice option, districts participating in voluntary open enrollment programs, number of students participating in the open enrollment programs, and recommended changes to this chapter to include the basis for these recommendations. This report must be updated annually to inform the General Assembly of the implementation of this chapter.

Section 59-62-60.    With an appropriation provided by the General Assembly for this purpose, the State Department of Education shall provide funding to districts participating in the Public School Choice Program or the voluntary open enrollment program to offset the cost of transporting students to and from district choice programs and voluntary open enrollment programs.

Section 59-62-70.    If any section, subsection, paragraph, subparagraph, sentence, clause, phrase, or word of this chapter is for any reason held to be unconstitutional or invalid, such holding shall not affect the constitutionality or validity of the remaining portions of this chapter, the General Assembly hereby declaring that it would have passed this chapter, and each and every section, subsection, paragraph, subparagraph, sentence, clause, phrase, and word thereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more other sections, subsections, paragraphs, subparagraphs, sentences, clauses, phrases, or words hereof may be declared to be unconstitutional, invalid, or otherwise ineffective."

SECTION    2.    This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.

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