South Carolina General Assembly
124th Session, 2021-2022

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S. 208

STATUS INFORMATION

General Bill
Sponsors: Senators Hembree, Bennett, Gustafson and Loftis
Document Path: l:\s-res\gh\008scho.sp.gh.docx

Introduced in the Senate on January 12, 2021
Introduced in the House on March 9, 2021
Last Amended on March 3, 2021
Currently residing in the House Committee on Education and Public Works

Summary: School of choice

HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS 

     Date      Body   Action Description with journal page number
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   12/9/2020  Senate  Prefiled
   12/9/2020  Senate  Referred to Committee on Education
   1/12/2021  Senate  Introduced and read first time (Senate Journal-page 217)
   1/12/2021  Senate  Referred to Committee on Education 
                        (Senate Journal-page 217)
   2/11/2021  Senate  Committee report: Favorable with amendment Education 
                        (Senate Journal-page 6)
    3/2/2021  Senate  Special order, set for  March 2, 2021 
                        (Senate Journal-page 58)
    3/3/2021  Senate  Committee Amendment Adopted (Senate Journal-page 31)
    3/3/2021  Senate  Amended (Senate Journal-page 31)
    3/3/2021  Senate  Read second time (Senate Journal-page 31)
    3/3/2021  Senate  Roll call Ayes-41  Nays-1 (Senate Journal-page 31)
    3/4/2021  Senate  Read third time and sent to House 
                        (Senate Journal-page 27)
    3/9/2021  House   Introduced and read first time (House Journal-page 7)
    3/9/2021  House   Referred to Committee on Education and Public Works 
                        (House Journal-page 7)

View the latest legislative information at the website

VERSIONS OF THIS BILL

12/9/2020
2/11/2021
3/3/2021

Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter

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

Indicates Matter Stricken

Indicates New Matter

COMMITTEE AMENDMENT ADOPTED AND AMENDED

March 3, 2021

S. 208

Introduced by Senators Hembree, Bennett, Loftis and Gustafson

S. Printed 3/3/21--S.

Read the first time January 12, 2021.

            

A BILL

TO AMEND SECTION 59-19-350(A) OF THE 1976 CODE, RELATING TO SCHOOLS OF CHOICE, TO PROVIDE THAT SCHOOL DISTRICTS MAY INSTEAD CREATE MULTIPLE SCHOOLS OF INNOVATION, AND TO PROVIDE THAT EACH EXEMPTION FROM STATE STATUTES AND REGULATIONS BY SCHOOLS OF INNOVATION MUST BE APPROVED BY A TWO-THIRDS VOTE OF THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION.

Amend Title To Conform

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

SECTION    1.    Section 59-19-350(A) of the 1976 Code is amended to read:

"Section 59-19-350.    (A)(1)    A local school district board of trustees of this State desirous of creating an avenue for new, innovative, and more flexible ways of educating children within their district, may create a school schools of choice innovation within the district that is are exempt from state statutes which govern other schools in the district and regulations promulgated by the State Board of Education. To achieve the status of exemption from specific statutes and regulations, the local board of trustees, at a public meeting, shall identify specific statutes and regulations which will be considered for exemption and shall disclose the financial model to be used. The exemption may be granted by the governing board of the district only if there is a two-thirds affirmative vote of the board for each exemption and the proposed exemption is approved by a two-thirds affirmative vote of the State Board of Education.

(2)    Each school of innovation annually before July first shall:

(a)    demonstrate compliance with the financial model identified in item (1);

(b)    provide full financial statements detailing how it receives and expends funds; and

(c)    report the academic achievement of its students as indicated by the performance of its students on the same assessments and matrices required of all other public schools, based on grade level.

(3)    Nothing in this section permits a local school district board of trustees to relinquish control or oversight of the schools created pursuant to this section, and the local school district board must ensure transparent and timely reporting of fiscal and academic performance for each school of innovation.

(4)    In addition to exempting one or more schools within a district as provided in item (1), a local school board of trustees may choose to exempt all schools in the district by following the procedures in item (1) for exempting individual schools."

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

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This web page was last updated on March 10, 2021 at 8:47 AM