House Bill 3364: Home School Diploma Discrimination

Author:
Adam Taylor

Summary:
This bill threatened the recognition of high school diplomas earned through home schooling.

Status:
Your opposition to this bill made a difference! In a unanimous vote on Wednesday, May 8, a subcommittee of the Senate Education Committee tabled this bill, effectively killing it..

Background:
According to Representative Ronald P. Townsend, Chairman of the House Education and Public Works Committee, House Bill 3364 affected only diplomas earned through a correspondence program. However, because the language of the bill was confusing and ambiguous, HSLDA concluded that state bureaucrats and judges could have easily interpreted it to apply to all high school diplomas. Even if the bill were to affect only correspondence diplomas, many home schooling families are enrolled in academically-sound correspondence programs which would not have met the requirements of this bill.

According to HB 3364, the diploma or its equivalent must be received from either (1) a correspondence program approved by the state board or department of education in the state where the school is located, (2) a school accredited by certain accrediting associations named in the bill, or (3) a school approved by a local school board in South Carolina. These requirements would apply "[i]f any state licensing, appointment, election, admission, employment, or other procedure or process requires the applicant, candidate, official or individual to possess a high school diploma or its equivalent.…"

Passage of House Bill 3364 would have directly affected home school graduates. Unless their high school diploma met one of the three requirements described above, they could not be admitted to a state college or other state school requiring a high school diploma, could not be hired to work for a state agency, and could not receive any state license requiring a high school diploma. Given the broad language of the bill, which mandates that these requirements be applied to any "other procedure or process," the potential for discrimination against home school graduates by the state would have been virtually unlimited.

HSLDA's Position:
We vigorously opposed this bill.

Other Resources

5/3/2002 South Carolina--Please Attend Hearing on HB 3364

Dangerous Legislative Threat to Home Schooling Families

8/6/2001 Home School Diploma Discrimination

Bill Text