South Carolina S 78: Work Experience Credit for Educators

Bill Text

2025-2026 Bill 78 Text of Previous Version (Apr. 30, 2025) - South Carolina Legislature Online 

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026

Bill 78

Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter

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

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

________

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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This web page was last updated on April 30, 2025 at 11:05 PM