Excused school attendance for religious instruction

2025-2026 Regular Session Introduced by Sarita Edgerton and 4 co-sponsors

Public districts must adopt policies to excuse students for privately provided religious instruction, with parental consent and allocated liability, while limiting public funding t

Member(s) request name added as sponsor: Kilmartin

Overview / Purpose

H 3260 amends South Carolina Code §59‑1‑460 to require school districts to adopt policies authorizing students to be excused from school to attend off‑campus religious instruction run by private entities. The bill also clarifies allowable public expenditures (limited to de minimis administrative costs), tightens who must provide transportation and liability coverage, and narrows the types of classes from which students may not be released.

Key provisions

Mandate to adopt policy:

Changes the existing optional authority (“may adopt”) to a requirement (“shall adopt”) that each school district board authorize excused releases for religious instruction under specified conditions.

Conditions for excusal (must be met):

Written consent from the student’s parent or guardian.
The sponsoring (private) entity must maintain attendance records and make them available to the student’s public school.
Transportation to/from instruction — including for students with disabilities — is the responsibility of the sponsoring entity, parent, or guardian.
The sponsoring entity must make provisions for and assume liability for the excused student.
No public funds shall be expended for the religious instruction itself; however, the bill allows payment of related de minimis administrative costs from public funds, and prohibits involvement of public school personnel in providing the religious instruction.

Class‑release limitation:

Revises the prohibition on releasing students from “core subject classes” to explicitly prohibit release only from core academic instruction in English, math, and science. (This implies releases may be allowed during other subject instruction, subject to local policy.)

Attendance reporting:

Students attending permitted religious instruction are not to be recorded as absent.

Effective date:

The act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.

Who is affected

Public school districts: required to adopt compliant release policies and to accept attendance records provided by private sponsors.

Students and families: gain a statutory right (subject to district policy) to have students excused for privately provided religious instruction, with parental consent.

Private religious sponsoring entities: must keep and share attendance records, provide/coordinate transportation, and assume liability.

School staff and budgets: school personnel cannot teach the religious instruction; limited public funds may be used only for de minimis administrative costs associated with the program.

Procedural status & timeline (as provided)

Prefiled: 12/05/2024

Introduced and first read / referred to Committee on Education and Public Works: 01/14/2025

Referred to Committee on Education and Public Works (again): 12/05/2024 (prefiling record)

Additional sponsor name additions noted in February–March 2025.

Hearing scheduled: 09/15/2025, 1:00 PM–5:00 PM (location A‑2).

Effective upon Governor’s approval if enacted.

Notes / document discrepancy

The material supplied also contains text from an unrelated Massachusetts bill (House No. 3260) proposing a rent tax credit. That Massachusetts text appears to be separate and is not part of the South Carolina amendment described above. This summary pertains only to the South Carolina §59‑1‑460 changes regarding excused attendance for religious instruction.

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