South Carolina General Assembly
124th Session, 2021-2022

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Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter

A20, R36, H3589

STATUS INFORMATION

General Bill
Sponsors: Reps. Allison, Lucas, M.M. Smith, Calhoon, Felder and Huggins
Document Path: l:\council\bills\rt\17929wab21.docx

Introduced in the House on January 12, 2021
Introduced in the Senate on February 4, 2021
Last Amended on April 21, 2021
Passed by the General Assembly on April 21, 2021
Governor's Action: April 23, 2021, Signed

Summary: School of choice

HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS

     Date      Body   Action Description with journal page number
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   1/12/2021  House   Introduced and read first time (House Journal-page 250)
   1/12/2021  House   Referred to Committee on Education and Public Works 
                        (House Journal-page 250)
   1/26/2021  House   Member(s) request name added as sponsor: M.M.Smith
   1/27/2021  House   Member(s) request name added as sponsor: Calhoon, Felder
   1/27/2021  House   Committee report: Favorable Education and Public Works 
                        (House Journal-page 53)
   1/28/2021  House   Member(s) request name added as sponsor: Huggins
    2/2/2021  House   Requests for debate-Rep(s).  Ott, Hart, Garvin, Tedder, 
                        Thigpen, Finlay, JL Johnson, Howard, R. Williams, 
                        Brawley, S. Williams, Daning, Clyburn, King, 
                        Cobb-Hunter, Murray, Anderson, Jefferson, Govan, 
                        Robinson, Dillard, Weeks, Matthews, McKnight, Wetmore, 
                        Hosey, Wheeler, and J Moore (House Journal-page 24)
    2/3/2021  House   Amended (House Journal-page 50)
    2/3/2021  House   Read second time (House Journal-page 50)
    2/3/2021  House   Roll call Yeas-81  Nays-32 (House Journal-page 50)
    2/4/2021  House   Read third time and sent to Senate 
                        (House Journal-page 18)
    2/4/2021  Senate  Introduced and read first time (Senate Journal-page 6)
    2/4/2021  Senate  Referred to Committee on Education 
                        (Senate Journal-page 6)
    3/4/2021  Senate  Recalled from Committee on Education 
                        (Senate Journal-page 3)
    3/4/2021  Senate  Amended (Senate Journal-page 3)
    3/4/2021  Senate  Read second time (Senate Journal-page 3)
    3/4/2021  Senate  Roll call Ayes-43  Nays-0 (Senate Journal-page 3)
    3/4/2021  Senate  Unanimous consent for third reading on next legislative 
                        day (Senate Journal-page 3)
    3/5/2021  Senate  Read third time and returned to House with amendments 
                        (Senate Journal-page 2)
   3/10/2021  House   Debate adjourned until  Tues., 3-16-21 
                        (House Journal-page 32)
   3/17/2021  House   Senate amendment amended (House Journal-page 25)
   3/17/2021  House   Returned to Senate with amendments 
                        (House Journal-page 25)
   3/17/2021  House   Roll call Yeas-106  Nays-1 (House Journal-page 25)
   3/23/2021  Senate  Non-concurrence in House amendment 
                        (Senate Journal-page 41)
   3/23/2021  Senate  Roll call Ayes-0  Nays-45 (Senate Journal-page 41)
    4/6/2021  House   House insists upon amendment and conference committee 
                        appointed Reps.  Allison, Felder, Alexander 
                        (House Journal-page 96)
    4/7/2021  Senate  Conference committee appointed  Setzler, Hembree, Rice 
                        (Senate Journal-page 18)
   4/15/2021  House   Conference report received and adopted 
                        (House Journal-page 6)
   4/15/2021  House   Roll call Yeas-88  Nays-21 (House Journal-page 8)
   4/21/2021  Senate  Conference report received and adopted 
                        (Senate Journal-page 44)
   4/21/2021  Senate  Roll call Ayes-42  Nays-1 (Senate Journal-page 44)
   4/21/2021  Senate  Ordered enrolled for ratification 
                        (Senate Journal-page 44)
   4/22/2021          Ratified R  36
   4/23/2021          Signed By Governor
   4/26/2021          Effective date  04/22/21
   4/26/2021          Act No.  20

View the latest legislative information at the website

VERSIONS OF THIS BILL

1/12/2021
1/27/2021
2/3/2021
3/4/2021
3/17/2021
4/21/2021

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

(A20, R36, H3589)

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 59-19-350, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SCHOOLS OF CHOICE EXEMPT FROM CERTAIN STATUTES AND REGULATIONS, SO AS TO REDESIGNATE THESE SCHOOLS AS BEING SCHOOLS OF INNOVATION, TO CLARIFY THAT PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICTS MAY ESTABLISH MULTIPLE SCHOOLS OF INNOVATION, AND TO PROVIDE PROCEDURES FOR OBTAINING AND RENEWING STATUS AS A SCHOOL OF INNOVATION.

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

Schools of Choice redesignated as Schools of Innovation, procedures

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

"(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 one or more schools of innovation within the district that are exempt from applicable state statutes and regulations which govern other schools in the district. To achieve the status of a school of innovation and have 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 the State Board of Education, provided a district may not designate all schools in the district as schools of innovation.

(2)    To achieve the status of exemption:

(a)    A school district must identify each state statute, regulation, and local district policy from which the school is requesting exemption and specify how this flexibility will support academic achievement for students and the Profile of the Graduate. No district is permitted to request flexibility from all state regulations and statutes for any school or schools.

(b)    The district superintendent must submit a request containing the information in subitem (a) to the local board of trustees for approval, which must be considered in a public meeting and requires a two-thirds vote of the board for approval. Any change in the request must be approved by the local board by a two-thirds vote.

(c)    Once approved by a local school board, the district superintendent must submit the request to the State Board of Education for approval, which requires a two-thirds vote of the State Board. Any change in a request that is pending approval by, or has been approved by, the State Board of Education must be made in the same manner as provided in subitem (b) and this subitem for initial requests.

(3)    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.

(4)    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."

Time effective

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

Ratified the 22nd day of April, 2021.

Approved the 22nd day of April, 2021.

__________


This web page was last updated on May 12, 2021 at 1:38 PM