(A) If the governing body of a charter school offers as part of its curriculum a program of online or computer instruction, this information shall be included in the application and the governing body shall be required to:

(1) provide each student enrolled in the program with a course or courses of online or computer instruction approved by the charter school's sponsor that must meet or exceed the South Carolina content and grade-specific standards. Students enrolled in the program of online or computer instruction must receive all instructional materials required for the student's program;

(2) ensure that the persons who operate the program on a day-to-day basis comply with and carry out all applicable requirements, statutes, regulations, rules, and policies of the charter school;

(3) ensure that each course offered through the program is taught by a teacher meeting the requirements of Section 59-40-50;

(4) ensure that a parent or legal guardian of each student verifies the number of hours of educational activities completed by the student each school year;

(5) adopt a plan by which it will provide:

(a) frequent, ongoing monitoring to ensure and verify that each student is participating in the program, including proctored assessment(s) per semester in core subjects graded or evaluated by the teacher, and at least bi-weekly parent-teacher conferences in person or by telephone;

(b) regular instructional opportunities in real time that are directly related to the school's curricular objectives, including, but not limited to, meetings with teachers and educational field trips and outings;

(c) verification of ongoing student attendance in the program;

(d) verification of ongoing student progress and performance in each course as documented by ongoing assessments and examples of student coursework;

(6) administer to all students in a proctored setting all applicable assessments as required by the South Carolina Education Accountability Act.

(B) Nothing in this section shall prohibit a charter school that provides a program of online or computer instruction from reimbursing families of enrolled students for costs associated with their Internet connection for use in the program.

(C) A charter school shall provide no more than seventy-five percent of a student's core academic instruction in kindergarten through twelfth grade via an online or computer instruction program. The twenty-five percent of the student's core academic instruction may be met through the regular instructional opportunities outlined in subitem (A)(5)(b).

(D) Charter school students may enroll in the Department of Education's virtual education program pursuant to program requirements.

(E) Private or homeschool students choosing to take courses from a virtual charter school may not be provided instructional materials, or any other materials associated with receiving instruction through a program of online or computer instruction at the state's expense.

(F) Only students enrolled in the charter school as a full-time student shall be reported in the charter school's average daily membership to the State Department of Education for the purposes of receiving state or federal funds. Private and homeschool students may not be included in the student weighted pupil units or average daily membership reported to the State Department of Education for the purposes of receiving state or federal funds.

HISTORY: 2007 Act No. 26, Section 2, eff May 15, 2007; 2013 Act No. 84, Section 2, eff June 13, 2013; 2014 Act No. 288 (H.3853), Section 9, eff June 12, 2014.

Effect of Amendment

The 2013 amendment, in subsection (D), substituted "Department of Education's virtual education program" for "South Carolina Virtual School Program".

2014 Act No. 288, Section 9, in subsection (A)(1), substituted "charter school's sponsor" for "State Department of Education" and substituted "grade-specific" for "grade specific".