S 1110 Session 111 (1995-1996)
S 1110 General Bill, By Fair
A Bill to amend Title 59, Code of Laws of South Carolina, 1976, relating to
education, by adding Chapter 64 so as to recognize parental authority and
control over children's education, to provide for written parental consent and
school district disclosure concerning certain types of student assessments, to
provide for disclosure of information regarding student records, to provide
for security and restricted release of student records, to limit the contents
of permanent student records, to provide for parental inspection and review of
student records, to provide for challenges to the contents of student records,
to regulate student exposure to certain types of assessments, surveys, and
recorded material, to provide for adoption of certain school policies and
procedures with regard to students and parents, to provide for withholding of
state funds from a school district for noncompliance with this Chapter, and to
authorize parents or guardians to institute civil actions for breach of any
duty imposed by this Chapter.
02/08/96 Senate Introduced and read first time SJ-3
02/08/96 Senate Referred to Committee on Education SJ-3
A BILL
TO AMEND TITLE 59, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH
CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO EDUCATION, BY ADDING
CHAPTER 64 SO AS TO RECOGNIZE PARENTAL
AUTHORITY AND CONTROL OVER CHILDREN'S
EDUCATION, TO PROVIDE FOR WRITTEN PARENTAL
CONSENT AND SCHOOL DISTRICT DISCLOSURE
CONCERNING CERTAIN TYPES OF STUDENT
ASSESSMENTS, TO PROVIDE FOR DISCLOSURE OF
INFORMATION REGARDING STUDENT RECORDS, TO
PROVIDE FOR SECURITY AND RESTRICTED RELEASE OF
STUDENT RECORDS, TO LIMIT THE CONTENTS OF
PERMANENT STUDENT RECORDS, TO PROVIDE FOR
PARENTAL INSPECTION AND REVIEW OF STUDENT
RECORDS, TO PROVIDE FOR CHALLENGES TO THE
CONTENTS OF STUDENT RECORDS, TO REGULATE
STUDENT EXPOSURE TO CERTAIN TYPES OF
ASSESSMENTS, SURVEYS, AND RECORDED MATERIAL, TO
PROVIDE FOR ADOPTION OF CERTAIN SCHOOL POLICIES
AND PROCEDURES WITH REGARD TO STUDENTS AND
PARENTS, TO PROVIDE FOR WITHHOLDING OF STATE
FUNDS FROM A SCHOOL DISTRICT FOR NONCOMPLIANCE
WITH THIS CHAPTER, AND TO AUTHORIZE PARENTS OR
GUARDIANS TO INSTITUTE CIVIL ACTIONS FOR BREACH
OF ANY DUTY IMPOSED BY THIS CHAPTER.
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 64
Parental Rights in Schools
Section 59-64-10. The General Assembly recognizes that
parents possess primary authority and control over the upbringing
and education of their children, including without limitation,
academic, emotional, medical, psychiatric, mental health,
psychological, and social matters.
Section 59-64-20. (A) Any instructional material provided by a
local school district or school, or supplied to a local school district
or school by any other entity, including without limitations,
teachers' manuals, films, tapes, computer programs and networks,
technological instructional materials, assessments, or other
supplemental instructional material, and any material which is to be
used, viewed by, or made available to students, shall be made
available by the school district at a reasonable time for parental
inspection, review, and copying upon request of a parent or
guardian of a student, provided that any such copies so made shall
be only for the personal use of the parent or guardian.
(B) No state agency, local school district, or any officer, agent,
or employee thereof shall require a student as part of any
curriculum or educational program to submit to any psychological,
psychiatric, mental health, or psychometric examination, testing,
treatment, survey, analysis, assessment, or evaluation without the
prior express written consent of the parent or guardian of the
student for each such incident or course of treatment and notice to
the parent or guardian of his or her right to be present or on the
premises during the same.
(C) Upon request of a parent or guardian of a student, a local
school district shall be required, in relation to any curriculum and in
relation to any screening, observation, or assessment of a student
for which consent is required pursuant to subsection (B), to provide
to the parent or guardian a written statement of:
(1) the purpose of the curriculum or of the screening,
observation, or assessment and what a screening, observation, or
assessment is designed to measure;
(2) whether and how that purpose is related to cognitive
instruction or to objectives which describe changes in a student's
interests, attitudes, values, and the development of appreciations and
adequate adjustment;
(3) the rationale for scoring and standards of evaluation; and
(4) types of prescribed treatment or educational plans which
may result from a screening, observation, or assessment.
Section 59-64-30. (A) Each local school district, within ten
days after a student's registration, shall provide to a parent or
guardian of a student attending a school within that school district
written disclosure of the types of individual student records
routinely maintained by the school, the subject matters to be
included within such records, the means by which the information is
obtained, the purposes for which the information is needed, the
identity of those persons who will have routine access to the
information, and the means by which the parent or guardian may
grant permission for other persons to have access to or examine
such records.
(B) All individual student records, including paper files,
microfilm, microfiche, and electronic data bases, shall be stored and
maintained in such a manner as to prevent access to the same, either
physically or electronically, by anyone other than the principal of
the school attended by the student or by local school district
employees designated by the principal.
(C) Except as provided by this subsection, no local school
district or any officer, agent, or employee thereof shall release any
individual student record or any part thereof without prior written
consent of a parent or guardian to anyone other than a parent or
guardian of the student or local school personnel authorized
pursuant to subsection (B) of this section. Student records shall be
maintained within the local school district where the student is
registered, and the contents thereof shall not be released or
transferred electronically or otherwise beyond the local school
district where the student is registered, other than in the aggregate
for attendance reports without identification of any individual. The
contents of individual student records shall not become part of any
data base used for purposes of census reports, academic
achievement reports, participation in government programs, or job
placement programs, other than in the aggregate for reports made
only to the State or its agencies or departments without
identification of any individual.
(D) No record or notation of any student's alleged criminal
activity, criminal arrest, or criminal conviction shall be placed in
any permanent student record; provided, however, that such
information may be maintained in a separate file to be made
available to school administrators and teachers having responsibility
and governance over such a student, and the same shall be available
to a parent or guardian of the student pursuant to the provisions of
subsection (E) of this section.
(E) Each local school district, upon request of a parent or
guardian of a student, shall make available for inspection, review,
and copying at a reasonable time all individual student records
regarding that parent's or guardian's child.
(F) Upon inspection of a student record as provided by
subsection (E) of this section, a parent or guardian of a student may
contest the accuracy, completeness, or relevance of the contents of a
student record by giving to the principal of the school attended by
the student written notice of a requested change to the record,
specifying what information is being challenged and the correction,
supplement, or deletion desired. The principal or his or her
designee shall have ten days, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and
legal holidays, from receipt of such notice to acknowledge the same
in writing. The principal or his or her designee shall promptly
review the record and the requested changes thereto and shall either
comply with the request in whole or in part or shall deny the
request, and the decision shall be communicated promptly in writing
to the parent or guardian. If the request is granted in whole or in
part, the record shall be changed accordingly. If the request is
denied in whole or in part, the requested but denied changes shall
be placed and maintained separately in the student record.
Section 56-64-40. No state agency, local school district, or any
officer, agent, or employee thereof, without the prior written
consent of the parent or guardian of the student, shall subject a
student, as part of any curriculum or educational program, to
participation in a survey, analysis, or evaluation which would
require disclosure by the student of information about the student or
the student's immediate family concerning:
(1) political affiliations or philosophies;
(2) mental or psychological problems;
(3) sexual behavior, attitudes, and orientations;
(4) illegal, antisocial, self-incriminating, demeaning behavior;
(5) critical appraisals of other individuals or institutions with
whom respondents have close familial relationships;
(6) communications or information subject to the protection of
the attorney-client privilege, psychiatrist-patient privilege, or other
similar privilege recognized by law;
(7) income, other than that information required by law to
determine eligibility for participation in a program or for receiving
financial assistance under such program;
(8) personal values, attitudes, or beliefs; or
(9) religious affiliations or beliefs.
Section 59-64-50. No state agency, local school district, or any
officer, agent, or employee thereof shall require a student, as part
of any curriculum or educational program, to view or listen to any
film, movie, filmstrip, videotape, audiotape, record, or other video
or audio recording which contains pornographic material or which
has been assigned a rating of `X' `NC-17' or `R' by the Motion
Picture Association of America, and such recordings shall not be
used by a school system as part of any student curriculum or
educational program.
Section 59-64-60. (A) No later than December 31, 1996, each
local school board of trustees shall adopt policies and guidelines for
implementing policies concerning the use and administration of any
psychological, psychiatric, or psychometric examination, testing,
treatment, or survey for which parental or guardian consent is
required by Section 59-64-20(B) or 59-64-40 concerning the form,
content, and method of obtaining the written consent required by
Section 59-64-20(B) or 59-64-40. Such policies and guidelines
shall provide for alternative assignments or activities for students
whose parents or guardians have refused consent and shall provide
that such alternative assignments shall have equal academic credit as
that for which consent was refused and shall not be punitive in
content or length.
(B) Prior to the adoption of policies and guidelines pursuant to
subsection (A), the local school board of trustees shall provide an
opportunity to receive recommendations and comments from board
members, school personnel, parents of students enrolled in schools
within the school district and members of the public.
Section 59-64-70. Upon a student's registration, each local
school district shall provide to a parent or guardian of a student
attending a school within that school district written notice of the
provisions of this chapter. The notice shall be identified clearly as
`Notice of Certain Parental Rights and Requirements for Informed
Consent' and receipt of the same shall be acknowledged in writing
by the parent or guardian and returned to the school for placement
in the student's permanent records.
Section 59-64-80. If a local school district fails to comply with
any provisions of this chapter, the State Board of Education shall
certify this fact to the State Treasurer who shall withhold from the
local district all state funds allotted to the local district until full
compliance is made by the local district. Before this certification,
the state board shall notify the local district of its intention and state
the reasons for the action. The governing board of the local district
is entitled to a hearing before funds are withheld, provided that the
local district requests a hearing within thirty days from receipt of
notification. If the local school board feels aggrieved by the final
decision of the state board following the hearing, the local board
shall have the right to obtain judicial review of the decision, on the
record made before the state board, by filing an appeal in the circuit
court of the county of the local district affected. The appeal clearly
shall specify the decision being challenged, the questions in dispute,
the decision of the state board, the relief sought by the local board,
and the contentions of the local board. The appeal shall be based
upon the record as a whole established at the time of the hearing
before the state board. A transcript of the testimony and other
evidence adduced before the state board at the time of the hearing
shall be prepared and certified as true and correct by the state board
and filed in the court within thirty days after date of service of a
copy of the appeal upon the state board or within such other time as
the court may allow. The decision of the state board on appeal
shall not be set aside if based upon any evidence in the record,
considering the record as a whole. Whether or not prayed for in
the appeal, the court may remand the matter for future proceedings
or findings on such directions or terms as may be specified in the
order of the court. No funds shall be withheld until all appeals are
exhausted. Any local school district which feels aggrieved by a
decision of the state board shall have the right to appeal under the
provisions of this section.
Section 59-64-90. The provisions of this chapter may not be
construed to prohibit reporting of child abuse cases or criminal
activities as provided by law.
Section 59-64-100. (A) Except as otherwise provided by Section
59-64-90, any parent or guardian injured by the breach of any duty
imposed by the provisions of this chapter may bring an action in
circuit court for damages or equitable relief, any other provision of
law to the contrary notwithstanding, and the amount of any
damages awarded shall be determined by the jury.
(B) No civil action pursuant to subsection (A), in which a local
school district is a defendant, shall be brought until more than
ninety days after the aggrieved parent or guardian has filed written
notice of the grievance and the substance thereof with the local
school board of trustees. Upon receipt of any such written notice,
the local board shall cause the matter to be investigated and shall
make findings and take such remedial action as it considers
necessary and appropriate, if any, and the findings and action of the
board shall be reported in writing to the aggrieved parent or
guardian within ninety days of the filing of the grievance.
Section 59-64-110. For purposes of this chapter, whenever a
student attains eighteen years of age, the provisions of this chapter
otherwise applicable to a parent or guardian of a student shall apply
to the student instead of a parent or guardian."
SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon approval by the
Governor.
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