Senate Amendment 1A
H 3728 - Session 125 (2023-2024)
Transparency and Integrity in Education Act

Senator Grooms proposes the following amendment (SR-3728.JG0120S):

Amend the bill, as and if amended, by adding appropriately numbered SECTIONS to read:

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

 Article 17

 The Given Name Act

 Section 59-63-1700.(1) "Parent" or "guardian" means a resident of this State who is the parent, stepparent, adoptive parent, foster parent, or otherwise legal guardian of a student enrolled in  school in this State, excluding an individual whose parental relationship to the child has been legally terminated..

(2) "Employee" means any individual working in any capacity, whether performance of such work is voluntary or paid, including, but not limited to, teachers, administrators, janitors, cafeteria workers, or other individuals working at any state-funded preschool, primary, or secondary school.  

(3) "Contractor" means any individual working in any capacity for any state-funded preschool, primary, or secondary school through a contract between any such school or board of education or employee of or member of any school or board of education and that individual or that individual's employer.  

(4) "Student" means an individual under the age of eighteen years of age who is enrolled in school in this State. 

(5) "Sex" means biological sex, as listed on an individual's original birth certificate. 

 Section 59-63-1710.(A) No public education employee or contractor shall use a name to address a student other than the name listed on the student's birth certificate, or a derivative thereof, without the written permission of the student's parent or guardian. 

(B) No public education employee or contractor shall use a pronoun when addressing a student that is different from the student's biological sex without the written permission of the student's parent or guardian. 

(C) No employee of a public preschool, elementary, or secondary school operating in this State, when acting in the course of his official duties, shall carry out any act or communication that would violate subsections (A) or (B). 

(D) No public institution may require an education employee or contractor to use a pronoun that does not match a person's biological sex if doing so is contrary to the employee's or contractor's religious or moral convictions. 

(E) Nothing in this section prohibits an employee or contractor of a public preschool,  elementary, or secondary school from discussing any matter of public concern outside the context of his official duties.

(F) Any public institution whose employee or contractor is found to be in violation of this section is not eligible for state funding or state or local contracts. 

(G) Any aggrieved individual under this section may seek relief through the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education or bring a private right of action against any institution engaged in such prohibited discrimination, or both. 

SECTION X. If any section, subsection, paragraph, subparagraph, sentence, clause, phrase, or word of this act is for any reason held to be unconstitutional or invalid, such holding shall not affect the constitutionality or validity of the remaining portions of this act, the General Assembly hereby declaring that it would have passed this act, and each and every section, subsection, paragraph, subparagraph, sentence, clause, phrase, and word thereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more other sections, subsections, paragraphs, subparagraphs, sentences, clauses, phrases, or words hereof may be declared to be unconstitutional, invalid, or otherwise ineffective.