Senator FANNING proposed the following amendment (WAB\615C002.RT.WAB21):
Amend the bill, as and if amended, by striking SECTION 1. A. and inserting:
/ SECTION 1. A. Section 59-63-100 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding an appropriately lettered new subsection at the end to read:
"( )(1) Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, individual students who attend private schools in this State may not be denied by a public school district the opportunity to try out for and, if selected, participate in an interscholastic athletic program offered at a public school in the district if the:
(a) student resides within the attendance zone boundaries of the public school;
(b) private school that the student attends is not a member of the South Carolina High School League and the private school's enrollment for grades nine through twelve does not exceed two hundred students;
(c) private school attended by the student does not offer the particular sport for the student's gender;
(d) particular sport in which the student seeks to participate is offered at the public school located in the attendance zone where the student resides;
(e) student notifies the superintendent of the public school district in writing of his intent to try out in the particular sport as a representative of the public school before the beginning date of the season for the sport in which he wishes to try out;
(f) student pays for all sport-specific fees charged by the public school for an individual student to participate in the particular sport, and the State provides the district with funding in the amount of at least eight percent of the base student cost for the current fiscal year in order to fund the participation of the private school student in the public school sport; and
(g) student meets all public school district eligibility requirements with the exception of the:
(i) school district's school or class attendance requirements; and
(ii) class and enrollment requirements of the private entity that supervises the particular sport.
(2) A public school district may not contract with a private entity that supervises interscholastic athletic programs if the private entity prohibits the participation of private school students in interscholastic athletic programs supervised by the entity." /