South Carolina House Bill H3862

South Carolina 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 1/30/25
• Refer: 1/30/25
• Refer: 2/18/25
• Enrolled: 5/7/25
• Passed: 5/12/25
• Chaptered: 5/19/25

Caption

AN ACT TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY AMENDING SECTION 59-40-50, RELATING TO CHARTER SCHOOL ADMISSIONS, SO AS TO REVISE ADMISSIONS PREFERENCE CRITERIA AND PROCEDURES, AND TO ADD PROVISIONS CONCERNING STUDENTS WITH MULTIPLE ENROLLMENT PREFERENCES.

Summary

H3862 amends South Carolina’s charter school admissions law to revise which students receive enrollment preferences when a charter school has more applicants than available seats. The bill requires charter schools to give priority to returning students from the previous school year and continues to allow preferences for certain categories of applicants, including siblings of current or former students, children of charter school employees or governing committee members, and dependents of active-duty military members. It also preserves a special mission-aligned preference for educationally disadvantaged students at Alternative Education Campuses and adds a specific rule for charter schools located on federal military installations or bases. The bill also addresses how schools handle students who qualify for more than one preference. In those cases, the school may apply only one preference at its discretion, and if a student is denied a preference because the school has already reached the cap for that category, the student must still be allowed to enter any lottery held for that year. For schools on military bases, the bill allows a larger military-related preference, up to 50 percent of enrollment, for eligible students living in base housing or stationed there, while preventing a child from being counted more than once toward multiple preference caps. The act takes effect upon the Governor’s approval.

Impact

The bill amends Section 59-40-50 of the South Carolina Code, which governs charter school admissions and lottery preferences. It strengthens the statutory preference for returning students, clarifies and limits preference categories for siblings, employees’ children, committee members’ children, and military dependents, and adds a rule for resolving multiple eligibility claims. It also preserves existing constraints on preference percentages and creates a special enrollment framework for charter schools on federal military installations, affecting charter school operators, applicants, and sponsors statewide.

Sentiment

The bill appears to have broad support overall, as reflected by unanimous or near-unanimous votes in the House and House concurrence, and a strong Senate vote on second reading. The only recorded opposition in the legislative history was on a Senate motion to table Amendment 1, suggesting that the main debate centered more on the amendment process than on the underlying bill itself. The final vote pattern indicates general agreement with the policy of clarifying and expanding charter school enrollment preferences.

Contention

The main points of contention likely involved the scope and structure of enrollment preferences, especially the balance between lottery-based admissions and categorical priorities. Potentially sensitive issues include the preference for children of employees and charter committee members, the percentage caps on those preferences, and the expanded military-related preference for schools on federal installations. Another likely issue was how to treat students eligible for multiple preferences and whether the bill should more tightly limit or more flexibly manage those overlapping categories.