|
The first regular session of the 118th South Carolina General Assembly convened January 13, 2009. However, prefiling began on December 9 in the House and December 10 in the Senate. SCHEA will monitor all bills introduced in both the House and the Senate throughout this legislative session. Because this is the beginning of a new two year session, any bill introduced now has until May of 2010 to pass. Please check back often as we will attempt to keep this page current. If a bill requires action on the part of home schoolers, SCHEA will send an alert to its membership. If you have any questions about the bills, please feel free to contact SCHEA here.
 
H3645 was passed by the House and sent to the Senate. The importance of this bill is that it raises the compulsory attendance age to 18 and ties the driver's license to school attendance. This bill, which has a fiscal impact of $100,000 for the DMV and additional costs to schools in an age of budget cuts, would require school attendance as a condition for the issuance of a driver's license for anyone less than eighteen years of age. It also requires that at the time of application for a license, documentation of enrollment status be presented to the DMV on a form approved by the Department. The bill was amended before leaving the House, thanks in large part to your calls, to read, "Nothing in this subsection should be construed to change the way or the frequency with which home school students or parents of home school students report a home school student's attendance in an academic year." It did pass the House on third reading and is now in the Senate Finance Committee. We will continue to monitor it closely and keep you updated until the Legislature adjourns the beginning of June.
If you do not know who your representative is, go to www.votesmart.org and type in your zip code. You can find all the contact information there for your representative and senator.
We urge you to email your representative and voice your concerns on this bill. It is imperative that we speak out not only on behalf of all homeschoolers but all young people who would be subject to these new regulations.
|
|
|
H3645 is a double whammy. Not only does it raise the compulsory attendance age to 18, but it ties the driver's license to school attendance, and, for home schoolers, requires home school associations to keep attendance (something which goes beyond the current law) and notify families and the DMV when students have three consecutive or five unlawful absences. Not a good bill
|
|
S1300 would allow a person primarily responsible for the elementary or secondary education of a child in a home or charter school, selected for jury service during the school term, his service must be postponed to a date that does not conflict with the school term.
|
|
|
H3866 is a bill that is trying to lower the high school drop out rate. However, at the very end, it raises the mandatory school age from 17 to 19 or graduation.
|
|
|
H3107 A bill to allow a state income tax credit for a taxpayer who sends his child to private school or home schools his child in an amount equal to two hundred dollars per child to be used for books and supplies.
|
|
|
S29 would require that a child must attend school until he attains the age of eighteen, graduates from high school, or receives a high school equivalency diploma
|
|
|
S151 The "Equal Access to Interscholastic Activities Act" would permit home school students to participate in interscholastic activities of the school district in which the student resides.
|
|
H3165 and H3412 would give Family Court jurisdiction to order visitation for grandparents if it finds the child's parents are depriving the grandparents visitation and that it is in the child's best interest to have visitation with the grandparents. We are always wary when the courts begin interfering with family matters.
S934 would allow grandparents a minimum of 72 hours of visitation each six months.
S981 would allow courts to order grandparent visitation, however, only if the parents are NOT living together, with their child.
See also S. 1044
|
|
|
S254 would tie driver's license applications to school attendance. This bill has appeared in the past several sessions. While it has never gone anywhere, it is always a threat and we will continue to watch it.
|
|
|
S520 is called the "SOUTH CAROLINA EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY ACT" This is a lengthy and involved bill, with only one small section dedicated to home schoolers. But it does offer a tax credit of up to $1000.00 per student for instruction related expenditures.
|
|
Please pray and write a letter for this Swedish homeschooling family who will not be seeing their only child this Christmas. This family is now facing losing permanent custody of their son who just turned 7 this past fall. He was taken in June, and they have extremely limited visiting time with him. Pray that he is returned soon. God's arm is not too short to save. Let's lift up our prayers and also take written action. Contact information for where to send letters is in the first link below.
“HSLDA is gravely concerned about this case as it represents what can happen to other families who might wish to homeschool their children. Furthermore, in response to inquiries from HSLDA, Swedish authorities have cited the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child to explain and defend their actions. If the U.S. were to ever ratify this treaty, then state-sponsored kidnapping could occur here. Every homeschooler would be at risk. Such treatment of families and children is inhumane and inconsistent with a reasonable understanding of basic human rights. Therefore, we are asking our members to contact Swedish officials asking them to return Dominic Johansson to his family.”
Click here for contact information
|
Click here for Project Vote Smart to learn about or contact any representative or senator.