South Carolina H 3912: Social studies standards and assessments

Bill Text

2025-2026 Bill 3912 Text of Previous Version (Feb. 06, 2025) - South Carolina Legislature Online 

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026

Bill 3912

Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter

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

A bill

TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY AMENDING 
SECTION 59-18-350, RELATING TO THE CYCLICAL REVIEW OF STATE STANDARDS AND 
ASSESSMENTS REQUIRED IN THE EDUCATION ACCOUNTABILITY ACT, SO AS TO PROVIDE 
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE REVIEW AND REVISION PROCESS FOR STATE SOCIAL STUDIES 
STANDARDS TO ENSURE THE STANDARDS TAKE A TRADITIONAL APPROACH TO HISTORY, TO 
SPECIFY QUALIFICATIONS FOR PARTIES RESPONSIBLE FOR REVIEWING AND REVISING THE 
STANDARDS, AND TO PROVIDE RELATED RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE STATE SUPERINTENDENT 
OF EDUCATION.

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

SECTION 1. Section 59-18-350 of the S.C. Code is amended by 
adding:

 (D)(1) An individual responsible for 
reviewing or revising the state standards and assessments provided in 
subsection (A) shall not have a record of endorsing divisive concepts in 
classroom instruction, including the promotion of theoretical perspectives, 
frameworks, and worldviews that are disproportionately critical of society, 
culture, and our nation's history as being factual.

 (2) 
An individual responsible for reviewing or revising the state social studies 
standards and assessments as provided for in subsection (A) shall certify that 
they do not have a record of supporting narratives which characterize the 
founding of the United States, its evolution to a constitutional republic, or 
the history of the United States in general, as a story of oppression.

 (3) 
A majority of the State Board of Education designees responsible for reviewing 
and revising the state social studies standards and assessments must be subject 
matter historians, including constitutional history experts and military 
historians. For the purposes of this subsection, "historian" means a person 
with a doctorate in United States History or a subject matter expert including 
a published author of a literary work regarding a historically significant 
person, time period, or event. This subsection does not apply to the task force 
review established in subsection (A).

 (4) 
Any future revisions to the state social studies standards shall be content 
based, emphasizing the importance of leading individuals and key events in 
shaping the political, constitutional, intellectual, economic, diplomatic, and 
military history of the United States.

 (5) The State 
Superintendent of Education, according to her discretion, shall certify that 
all proposed appointees meet the foregoing qualifications and may remove any 
individual if a violation of this section is discovered at any point in the 
standards and assessment review process.

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

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This web page was last updated on February 06, 2025 at 11:06 AM