South Carolina General Assembly
107th Session, 1987-1988

Bill 1381


                    Current Status

Bill Number:               1381
Ratification Number:       590
Act Number                 522
Introducing Body:          Senate
Subject:                   Education Finance Act; compensatory or
                           remedial funding 
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(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

(A522, R590, S1381)

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 59-20-40, AS AMENDED, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO THE DETERMINATION OF ANNUAL ALLOCATIONS TO SCHOOL DISTRICTS UNDER THE EDUCATION FINANCE ACT, SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT NO STUDENT WHO SCORES AT OR ABOVE BASIC SKILLS ASSESSMENT PROGRAM STANDARD IS ELIGIBLE FOR EITHER COMPENSATORY OR REMEDIAL FUNDING.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

Education Finance Act; compensatory or remedial funding

SECTION 1. Section 59-20-40(7) of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Section 24, Part II of Act 170 of 1987, is further amended to read:

"(7) Annually in the General Appropriations Act the General Assembly shall determine an appropriation level for compensatory and remedial programs. The State Board of Education shall promulgate regulations to implement a system so as to provide a pro rata matching of the weighted pupil units to the pupils in districts of the State who fail to meet the statewide minimum standards in reading, writing, and mathematics or who do not meet the first grade readiness test standard. To accommodate the level of the total appropriation for compensatory and remedial programs, the Board of Education shall allocate the funding of weighted pupil unit increments according to the following order of priority: (1) all students scoring below BSAP standard on any portion of the exit examination at a remedial weight of .114; (2) grades 1-6 compensatory at a weight of .26; (3) grades 2-6 remedial below BSAP standard but above the 25th percentile at a weight of .114; (4) grades 7-10 remedial below the 25th percentile at a weight of .114; (5) after all students eligible under priorities 1, 2, 3, and 4 above are funded, students classified as remedial below the BSAP standard but above the 25th percentile in grades 2-6 must be funded as compensatory students, at a weight of .26 starting progressively with the second grade and moving through the sixth grade as funds permit; (6) after all students eligible under priorities 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 above are funded, students classified as remedial below BSAP standard but above the 25th percentile in grades 7-10 must be funded at a weight of .114 starting progressively with the seventh grade and moving through the tenth grade as funds permit; (7) after all students eligible under priorities 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 above are funded, students classified as remedial in grades 7-12 must be funded as compensatory at a weight of .26 starting progressively with the seventh grade and moving through the twelfth grade as funds permit. No student who scores at or above BSAP standard is eligible for either compensatory or remedial funding. The districts' total number of students scoring at the compensatory or remedial level as defined in the priorities as provided in this section must be the number of students constituting one hundred percent to be served. Any district not serving one hundred percent of its eligible compensatory and remedial children funded as provided in this section must have its allocation reduced proportionately on a per pupil basis. When one hundred percent of the eligible students in one category are served, school districts may use uncommitted funds to serve eligible students in the other category according to the priorities cited above. The Board of Education shall promulgate regulations to insure maximum utilization of state and Chapter 1 funds to achieve the purpose of this section. Nothing in this section prohibits the General Assembly from appropriating funds to the Department of Education for block grants to address basic skills remediation in early childhood development in the school districts of the State. Nothing in this section prohibits a school district from using funds appropriated pursuant to this section for compensatory and remedial programs in summer school in the following fiscal year." Time effective

SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.