The Open Door(s) of Open Enrollment in South Carolina
Just yesterday, April 28th, the South Carolina Department of Education (“the Department”) released the open enrollment guidelines required by Section 12 of S.62, the bill that re-established the Education Scholarship Trust Fund (ESTF) after it was struck down by the South Carolina Supreme Court in 2024.
Specifically, this section required the Department to develop model guidelines for interdistrict transfers (i.e. transfers between school districts), and then requires school districts to adopt a conforming policy within 120 days of publication if they do not have a policy in place. For districts that already have an interdistrict transfer policy, it must be amended to conform to the model guidelines within 60 days of publication. It is important to note that these guidelines are the floor for what an interdistrict transfer must look like – districts are free to adopt more expansive and inclusive policies as they wish. Districts are still free to adopt their own intradistrict policies (i.e. between schools within their district – such as a student transferring from Blue Ridge High School to Greer High, both of which are in Greenville County School District).
WHAT CHANGED?
As you may remember, Palmetto Promise submitted an extensive public comment to the Department back in December 2025 highlighting several ways that the (then draft) model guidelines could have been improved, namely: eliminating transfer fees for students, increasing clarity regarding capacity studies, granting mid-year transferees automatic matriculation, protecting students from denials due to academic ability, and creating a timeline for student record transfers.
Unfortunately, only one of our recommendations was adopted – language was added to clarify that the transfer of student records is bound by the timeline established by an already-existing regulation. State Board of Education Regulation 43-273 requires that the student record be provided to the receiving school “…as soon as possible, but no later than ten business days upon receiving the written request, excluding weekends and recognized state holidays.”
FAILURE TO LAUNCH?
This may seem like a loss – several parts of the model guidelines that we felt needed changed were not, and the ability of receiving districts to charge transferring students fees up to last year’s local tax revenue is particularly egregious. The interdistrict transfer fee is meant to offset the lack of tax revenue paid by transferring students’ families; after all, since they live in a different school district, their tax dollars are not flowing to the school educating their child. We have expressed our concern that lower-income families would not be able to afford these fees, and the ESTF program still has so few seats that a very limited number of families would be using those dollars for interdistrict transfer fees. Those concerns remain.
The issue is not with the Department, but rather points to the need for a piece of legislation that authorizes the Department to address the issue of interdistrict transfer fees. Education funding is bound by the Education Finance Act of 1977, and is periodically updated by legislation or by budget provisos. Simply put, the Department does not have the power to direct funding to or from any category of pupil – including those that want to transfer between districts. The legislature would need to act and create a way for the tax revenue generated by these families follows that child to the new district – perhaps it is as simple as requiring the resident school district sending a check to the receiving district for the necessary local tax revenue per pupil. Perhaps there is a need for some larger reform?
MOVING FORWARD
The question is rhetorical – there is a larger need for reform to the education funding formula in South Carolina. The dollars should follow the child, rather than funding institutions. According to the South Carolina Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Office, in FY 2023-24 the average traditional public school received more than $19,000 per pupil, the average public charter school received just $13,248 per pupil (because they do not automatically receive local tax revenue and cannot issue local bonds), and students receiving ESTF funding next year get $7,634 to put toward their educational expenses. These families still pay property taxes and local bonds that go toward their local school district regardless of where their kids go to school, if they have any school-aged children at all. Our Universal Choice Coalition will be exploring this issue further over the summer to determine what funding formula reform could look like, which would address the issue of interdistrict transfer fees along the way.
We are encouraged to see these new guidelines move into implementation and continue to shape the public school choice environment in South Carolina. School choice does not always mean private schools, religious schools, or public charter schools – public school choice is a much-needed piece of this puzzle as well. We are hopeful that districts embrace this opportunity to provide new educational options to students outside of their residential district.
