Amended

April 30, 2025

 

S. 78

 

Introduced by Senators Hembree, Young, Zell and Devine

 

S. Printed 4/30/25--H.

Read the first time February 25, 2025

 

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A bill

 

TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY ADDING SECTION 59-25-60 SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT AN INDIVIDUAL'S PRIOR WORK EXPERIENCE MAY BE AWARDED ON AN INITIAL TEACHING CERTIFICATE IF THE PRIOR EXPERIENCE IS IN OR RELATED TO THE CONTENT FIELD OF THE CERTIFICATE, AND TO PROVIDE THAT EXISTING CERTIFICATE HOLDERS MAY RECEIVE CREDIT FOR PRIOR WORK EXPERIENCE.

    Amend Title To Conform

 

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

 

SECTION 1.  Chapter 25, Title 59 of the S.C. Code is amended by adding:

 

    Section 59-25-60.  (A) When reviewing an application by an individual for an educator certificate, the State Department of Education shall award years of experience on the educator certificate for non-teaching occupational experience in, or related to, the content field of the certificate for which the individual qualifies. One year of experience credit may be awarded for every two years of full-time relevant occupational experience completed by the individual. Years of experience shall be awarded solely for the purpose of advancement on the teacher salary schedule. Except for individuals seeking work-based certification, educator experience credit and relevant occupational experience eligible for educator experience credit must have been earned after the conferral of a bachelor's degree from a college or university meeting State Board of Education accreditation requirements. To be eligible for years of experience on the educator certificate, the individual must complete and submit a verification of relevant occupational experience form developed by the State Department of Education with the application for an educator certificate.

    (B) Individuals who entered the teaching profession prior to July 1, 2025, with non-teaching occupational experience in, or related to, the content field of their teaching certificate may complete and submit the verification of relevant occupational experience form to the State Department of Education to have additional years of experience added to their certificate for the purposes of advancing on the teacher salary schedule. If additional years of experience are awarded, the eligible individual is entitled to have his pay adjusted at the beginning of the next school year, from the effective date of the adjustment, to reflect the new experience step on the employing district's salary schedule. However, the individual is not entitled to retroactive pay for the increased years of experience during prior years of teaching or for any purpose other than advancement on the teacher salary schedule.

    (C) Nothing in this section alters any existing requirements for receiving an educator certificate. Individuals with the occupational experience identified in subsection (A) must still meet all other existing requirements in order to receive an educator certificate.

    (D) Nothing in this section shall be interpreted as allowing additional years of experience to be awarded for purposes other than advancement on the teacher salary schedule. Years of experience awarded pursuant to this section for relevant occupational experience are not considered service credit for the purposes of the state retirement or state health plans administered by PEBA.

 

SECTION 2.  The State Department of Education shall not add a full-time equivalent (FTE) position or partial FTE to evaluate and process certification requests as required to implement the provisions of this act.

 

SECTION 3.  The State Department of Education shall develop guidelines for purposes of implementation of this act and make available the non-teaching occupational experience verification form described in this act no later than one hundred-eighty-days after the approval by the Governor.

 

SECTION 4.  This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.

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