H 5073

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026
Bill 5073
Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter
(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)
Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter
Committee Amendment Adopted and Amended
April 29, 2026
H. 5073
Introduced by Reps. Pedalino, Erickson,
Montgomery, McCravy, Pace, Bradley, D. Mitchell, Terribile, Robbins, T. Moore,
Sessions, Neese, Brittain, Crawford, Lawson, Edgerton, Chumley, Brewer,
Chapman, Vaughan, Guest, Guffey, Cox, W. Newton, McGinnis, B. Newton, McCabe,
Rankin, Gagnon, Gibson, J. E. Johnson, Long, Moss, Schuessler, G. M. Smith,
White, Oremus, Teeple, Lastinger, Burns, Hewitt, Haddon, Cromer, Gilreath,
Hartnett and Ballentine
S. Printed 4/29/26--S.  [SEC
5/6/2026 12:51 PM]
Read the first time March 10, 2026
________
A bill
TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY ADDING SECTION
59-29-250 SO AS TO PROVIDE REQUIREMENTS FOR PUBLIC SCHOOL GRADING PRACTICES, TO
CONDITION ELIGIBILITY FOR CREDIT RECOVERY AND CONTENT RECOVERY ON COMPLETION OF
REQUIRED ASSIGNMENTS, TO LIMIT THE USE OF CERTAIN ASSESSMENTS IN CALCULATING
FINAL COURSE GRADES, TO PROVIDE ENFORCEMENT THROUGH WITHHOLDING OF STATE AID TO
CLASSROOM FUNDS, TO DIRECT THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION TO ESTABLISH A TASK
FORCE TO EVALUATE AND RECOMMEND REVISIONS TO THE UNIFORM GRADING POLICY, AND TO
REQUIRE THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION AND LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICTS TO ADOPT THE
RECOMMENDED REVISIONS.
    Amend Title To Conform
Be it enacted by the
General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
SECTION 1.  Article 1, Chapter 29, Title 59 of the S.C. Code is
amended by adding:
    Section
59-29-250. (A) No public school
district or public school may adopt any type of grading system that requires a
teacher to assign a minimum grade or score that exceeds the student's actual
performance on required assignments. If a school district is found to be in violation
of this section, the State Department of Education shall withhold ten percent
of the school district's State Aid to Classroom funding.
    (B)
In order for a student to be eligible to participate in a district-approved
credit recovery course as defined in the South Carolina Uniform Grading Policy,
a student must have submitted all required assignments for the course in a
manner consistent with district policies for timely submission of student work.
    (C)
In order for a student to be eligible to participate in a district-approved
content recovery program as defined in the South Carolina Uniform Grading
Policy, a student must have completed all required assignments for the relevant
subset of the course in a manner consistent with district policies for timely
submission of student work.
    (D)
Public school districts shall not require the inclusion of student performance
on the formative assessments required in Section 59-18-310(D) or on any
district-selected benchmark assessment in calculating a student's final grade
in any course or subject. District selected benchmark assessments may only be
used as formative assessments for instructional purposes and shall not factor
into a student's course grade unless the assessment is developed or directly
accessible to the course instructor prior to administration of the assessment
and exclusively measures content that has previously been taught in the course.
These provisions do not apply to end of course assessments. This section does
not prohibit a district from requiring administration of benchmark assessments
for the purpose of informing and improving instructional practices through
evaluation and monitoring of student mastery of state academic standards. Student
results on district-developed benchmark assessments must be made available in a
timely fashion to educators, students, and parents after administration of the
assessment.
    (E)
Prior to the start of the 2026-2027 School Year, the State Board of Education
is directed to establish a task force comprised of three superintendents,
principals, teachers, representatives of public school boards each, and three
high school students to evaluate potential revisions to the Uniform Grading
Policy in order to enhance the utility of grades in evaluating college and
career readiness, ensure high school grade point averages are meaningful
indicators of academic achievement, and reduce the need for and use of credit
recovery and content recovery programs. The task force shall make
recommendations to the board for potential revisions in areas including, but
not limited to, the use of term weighting in calculating final student grades,
the method of awarding quality points on the basis of unique numeric final
course averages when calculating student grade point averages, and the use of a
100-point grading scale. The task force shall report its findings to the State
Board of Education before June 1, 2027. The State Board of Education shall
consider the findings and adopt any updates to the Uniform Grading Policy.
Public school districts shall implement any updates to the Uniform Grading
Policy by no later than the 2028-2029 School Year. At a minimum thereafter, the
uniform grading policy should be reviewed and updated every seven years.
    (F)
Nothing in this section shall restrain a public school district from adopting
policies regarding credit or content recovery.
    (G)
For the purpose of this section, the use of "public school district" shall
include charter school districts and the use of "public school" shall include
charter schools.
SECTION 2.  This act takes effect July 1, 2026.
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This web page was last updated on May 06, 2026 at 12:51 PM