The Law
59-65-10
Responsibility of parent or guardian; notification by school district of availability of kindergarten; transportation for kindergarten pupils.
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(a) All parents or guardians shall cause their children or wards to
attend regularly a public or private school or kindergarten of this State which
has been approved by the State Board of Education or a member school of the
South Carolina Independent Schools’ Association or some similar organization,
or a parochial, denominational, or church-related school, or other programs
which have been approved by the State Board of Education from the school year
in which the child or ward is five years of age before September first until
the child or ward attains his seventeenth birthday or graduates from high
school. A parent or guardian whose child or ward is not six years of age on or
before the first day of September of a particular school year may elect for
their child or ward not to attend kindergarten. For this purpose, the parent or
guardian shall sign a written document making the election with the governing
body of the school district in which the parent or guardian resides. The form
of this written document must be prescribed by regulation of the Department of
Education. Upon the written election being executed, that child or ward may not
be required to attend kindergarten.