South Carolina H 3199: Open enrollment in public schools

Bill Text

2025-2026 Bill 3199 Text of Previous Version (Dec. 06, 2024) - South Carolina Legislature Online 

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026

Bill 3199

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 ADDING SECTION 
59-63-25 SO AS TO PROVIDE AN OPEN ENROLLMENT OPTION IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS; BY 
ADDING SECTION 59-63-102 SO AS TO provide A PUBLIC SCHOOL MAY NOT CONTRACT WITH 
A PRIVATE ENTITY THAT SUPERVISES, SANCTIONS, OR REGULATES INTERSCHOLASTIC 
COMPETITIONS UNLESS THE ENTITY ALLOWS STUDENTS WHO ATTEND A SCHOOL OUTSIDE OF 
THEIR ATTENDANCE ZONE TO PARTICIPATE IN INTERSCHOLASTIC COMPETITIONS, AND TO 
PROVIDE A LIMITED TRANSFER OPTION TO CERTAIN CURRENT STUDENTS; BY AMENDING 
SECTIONS 59-63-30 AND 59-63-32, RELATING TO REQUIREMENTS FOR PUBLIC SCHOOL 
ENROLLMENT AND PENALTIES FOR PROVIDING FALSE INFORMATION, AND SECTION 
59-63-480, RELATING TO ATTENDANCE AT SCHOOLS IN ADJACENT COUNTIES, ALL SO AS TO 
MAKE CONFORMING CHANGES; AND BY REPEALING SECTION 59-63-500 RELATING TO 
TRANSFER WITHOUT CONSENT OF the SCHOOL DISTRICT OF RESIDENCE.

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

SECTION 1. Article 1, Chapter 63, Title 59 of the S.C. Code is amended 
by adding:

 Section 
59-63-25. (A) Beginning with the 2026-2027 
School Year, each local board of trustees shall follow the policy and 
procedures established pursuant to this section for extending open enrollment 
opportunities that allow parents to apply for their child to enroll in any 
particular program or school.

 (B) 
Using a template developed and provided by the Department of Education and 
approved by the State Board of Education, each local board of trustees shall 
develop and adopt an open enrollment policy based on its evaluation of 
available data reflecting student, school, district, and community needs. The 
board shall ensure that the policy developed and data used to develop the 
policy and related procedures are posted prominently on the district website, 
and the board shall provide the department with its policy in a web posting 
format.

 (1) 
The open enrollment policy and process must:

 (a) 
adhere to federal desegregation and other educational requirements;

 (b) 
identify and describe the application requirements, timeline, and communication 
plan;

 (c) 
allow parents to declare school preferences, including placement of siblings 
within the same school;

 (d) 
describe lottery and wait list policies and an appeal process for adverse 
decisions;

 (e) 
include the policies adopted by the board regarding capacity standards, 
standards of approval and denial, priorities of acceptance for enrollment, and 
transportation;

 (f) 
include a disclosure of:

 (i) 
whether the district will charge nonresident students a fee to cover costs 
associated with their enrollment that are not covered by federal or state 
funding. Such costs shall not exceed the local per pupil expenditure amount in 
the receiving school district;

 (ii) 
itemized fees, including the amount of each fee, charged by the district to 
nonresident students to cover the costs associated with their enrollment that 
are not covered by federal and state funding; and

 (iii) whether the district has a 
mitigation or fee waiver process, and a description of such process for any 
fees charged under this section; and

 (g) 
include a component addressing public awareness of open enrollment 
opportunities, accessing data on the open enrollment capacity of a school, the 
district application process and timeline, and written procedures for 
notification of acceptance or denial of an application.

 (2) 
In implementing the provisions of this section a school district may, but is 
not required to:

 (a) 
make alterations in the structure of a requested school or to the arrangement 
or function of rooms within a requested school;

 (b) 
establish and offer any particular program in a school if such program is not 
currently offered in the school;

 (c) 
alter or waive any established eligibility criteria for participation in a 
particular program, including age requirements, course prerequisites, and 
required levels of performance;

 (d) 
expand the capacity of a program or school for the purpose of accommodating 
increased demand for open enrollment opportunities so long as the expansion 
does not result in exceeding State Board of Education regulations concerning 
professional personnel workload, including maximum student-teacher ratios and 
maximum daily teaching loads;

 (e) 
provide transportation to a student accepted pursuant to this section who is 
attending a school outside of the attendance zone of their residence; however, 
nothing in this section may be construed to prohibit the district from 
providing bus transportation on an approved route, from requesting state or 
federal funds for