South Carolina General Assembly
116th Session, 2005-2006

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H. 3191

STATUS INFORMATION

General Bill
Sponsors: Reps. Bingham and Clark
Document Path: l:\council\bills\pt\2207sj05.doc

Introduced in the House on January 11, 2005
Currently residing in the House Committee on Education and Public Works

Summary: Establish the Governor's School for Teaching, Learning and Technology

HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS

     Date      Body   Action Description with journal page number
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  12/22/2004  House   Prefiled
  12/22/2004  House   Referred to Committee on Education and Public Works
   1/11/2005  House   Introduced and read first time HJ-120
   1/11/2005  House   Referred to Committee on Education and Public Works 
                        HJ-120

View the latest legislative information at the LPITS web site

VERSIONS OF THIS BILL

12/22/2004

(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 42 SO AS TO ESTABLISH THE GOVERNOR'S SCHOOL FOR TEACHING, LEARNING, AND TECHNOLOGY AS A RESOURCE FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN THE STATE, TO PROVIDE FOR A GOVERNING BOARD FOR THE SCHOOL, AND TO PROVIDE FOR THE MANNER THE SCHOOL IS ESTABLISHED, OPERATED, AND FUNDED.

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 42

Governor's School for Teaching, Learning, and Technology

Section 59-42-10.    The Governor's School for Teaching, Learning, and Technology is established as a resource for public schools in the State. The school shall conduct research and develop more effective educational practices and bring to bear the most advanced educational research and practices currently available in public education in a demonstration campus and teaching academy. The school shall specifically address continuing advances in teaching, learning, and technology in its program. Best practices as developed and refined in the Governor's School must be disseminated to each public school in the State. To provide equitable geographical access to all public educators for purposes of professional training, the school must be located within the boundaries of Richland or Lexington County on a site to be identified by the River Alliance and submitted to the board of trustees for its approval.

Section 59-42-20.    (A)    The school must be under the management and control of a board of trustees consisting of the following members:

(1)    a chairman appointed by the Governor for a term of four years, coterminous with the term of the Governor, provided that the chairman first appointed shall serve an initial term as chairman to expire with the term of the Governor appointing him;

(2)    one member from each of the six congressional districts appointed by the Governor;

(3)    the chairman of the Board of Trustees of Richland School District One or his designee to serve ex officio with full voting privileges;

(4)    the chairman of the Board of Trustees of Lexington School District Two or his designee to serve ex officio with full voting privileges;

(5)    the State Superintendent of Education to serve ex officio with full voting privileges;

(6)    the Executive Director of the Commission on Higher Education to serve ex officio with full voting privileges;

(7)    the superintendents of Richland School District One and Lexington School District Two to serve ex officio without voting privileges.

(B)    Members appointed from the congressional districts shall serve a term of four years and until their successors are appointed and qualify, except that of those first appointed, the members representing the First, Second, and Third Congressional Districts shall serve for terms of two years and until their successors are appointed and qualify. Members shall receive mileage, subsistence, and per diem allowed by law for members of state boards, committees, and commissions.

(C)    In his appointments, the Governor shall seek to obtain the best qualified persons from the business, industrial, and educational communities and seek board membership that is broadly representative of the people of the State.

Section 59-42-30.    The school shall admit students in accordance with criteria, standards, and procedures to be established by the board, provided that the school shall mirror, insofar as possible, the demographics of students in South Carolina's public schools. Students meeting the admission criteria are entitled to attend from the two host districts, Richland School District One and Lexington School District Two. However, the students from other districts may apply for admission pursuant to policies adopted by the board of trustees. Students attending from Richland School District One and Lexington School District Two must be approved by the board of trustees of the respective districts.

Section 59-42-40.    In order to establish the initial campus and to do what is necessary to have the school ready to receive students by the third year of operation, the board may enter into a written agreement with the two host districts, Richland School District One and Lexington School District Two, to delineate what responsibilities and financial obligations each has toward this purpose. This written agreement also may have unilateral termination provisions on behalf of any signatory.

Section 59-42-50.    The Governor's School shall have a statewide mission to serve in its teaching and learning program the school districts in the State, through on-site and off-site professional training services to public educators and through a program of outreach. The outreach program must give priority to disadvantaged school districts as identified by the State Department of Education. To ensure compliance with this provision, the Governor's School shall prepare annually a plan for services to the school districts and file it with the Department of Education and shall submit annually an evaluation to measure the effectiveness and achievement of provisions of the plan. The plan for services to the school districts shall include a separate budget for the services.

Section 59-42-60.    Pre-service and in-service training programs and activities for teachers and other public educators must be organized and offered through the school's teaching academy. The teaching academy must be constituted through a voluntary cooperative arrangement of colleges and schools of education at South Carolina post-secondary institutions that are nationally accredited according to the standards of the Commission on Higher Education. An advisory committee to the board of trustees and the teaching academy shall consist of the presidents of the post-secondary institutions with nationally accredited teacher education programs, which elect to participate.

Section 59-42-70.    The scope of the school's curriculum must include pre-kindergarten through year fourteen to emphasize the critical importance of early childhood development and the critical importance of facilitating successful transitions for adolescents into adulthood.

Section 59-42-80.    The board of trustees shall employ a chief executive officer for the school and other key administrative and support personnel. The first year must be dedicated to program and curriculum planning and planning for construction of physical facilities. The next ensuing year will continue those processes, and in addition faculty recruitment will begin. Enrollment of students will begin in the third year of the school.

Section 59-42-90.    The school shall receive such funding as may be provided by the General Assembly in the annual general appropriations act.

Section 59-42-100.    (A)    Any school district from which the Governor's School draws at least ten percent of the Governor's School enrollment must not suffer reduction in per pupil state aid, which would have the effect of a net reduction in total per pupil state aid to the district. Per pupil state aid for the purposes of this provision includes funds from the Education Finance Act, the Education Improvement Act, the Education Accountability Act, the State School Building Fund, the Children's Education Endowment, and the State School Facilities Bond Act.

(B)    If a district becomes the beneficiary of this hold harmless financial provision it must be fully effective only until enrollment growth in the districts results in no net reduction in per pupil state aid to the district. The State Department of Education shall administer the provisions of this section.

(C)    If a district becomes the beneficiary of this hold harmless financial provision and shall subsequently become disqualified pursuant to the provisions of subsection (B), the financial benefit previously enjoyed must be phased out over a three-year period in equal increments."

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

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