South Carolina — school discipline

Governing authority stated in the sources

South Carolina Code of Laws Title 59, Chapter 63, Sections 59-63-210 (grounds for expulsion, suspension, or transfer), 59-63-220 (suspension by an administrator), 59-63-230 (notices of suspension and the conference), 59-63-235 (firearm expulsion), 59-63-240 (expulsion for the remainder of the year, and hearings), and 59-63-250 (transfer in lieu of suspension or expulsion). The expulsion-hearing section carries the most recent amendment: "2024 Act No. 194 (S.1188), SECTION 1, eff May 21, 2024". — S.C. Code Title 59, Chapter 63, retrieved Sep 1, 2026

The lines the state draws

On suspension by an administrator, the statute states three numbers at once: a district board may confer authority "to suspend a pupil from a teacher's class or from the school not in excess of ten days for any one offense and for not more than thirty days in any one school year but no such administrator may suspend a pupil from school during the last ten days of a year if the suspension will make the pupil ineligible to receive credit for the school year without the approval of the school board unless the presence of the pupil constitutes an actual threat to a class or a school or a hearing is granted within twenty-four hours of the suspension." (§ 59-63-220) On expulsion: "The board may expel for the remainder of the school year a pupil for any of the reasons listed in Section 59-63-210", and "The board may permanently expel any incorrigible pupil." (§ 59-63-240) For a firearm the state states a floor rather than a ceiling: "The district board must expel for no less than one year a student who is determined to have brought a firearm to a school or any setting under the jurisdiction of a local board of trustees", subject to modification "by the district superintendent of education on a case-by-case basis." (§ 59-63-235) The grounds themselves are stated broadly: expulsion, suspension, or transfer "for the commission of any crime, gross immorality, gross misbehavior, persistent disobedience, or for violation of written rules and promulgated regulations established by the district board, county board, or the State Board of Education, or when the presence of the pupil is detrimental to the best interest of the school." (§ 59-63-210(A))
No separate emergency-removal provision appears in the sources reviewed; the twenty-four-hour hearing clause in § 59-63-220 is the nearest stated text, and that is recorded as a finding rather than read as one.

Offices and appeal bodies in these sources

Both routes end at the district board of trustees, and expulsion carries a stated route to court. On suspension: "After the conference the parents or legal guardian may appeal the suspension to the board of trustees or to its authorized agent." (§ 59-63-230) On expulsion: "If the hearing is held by any authority other than the board of trustees, the right to appeal the decision to the board is reserved to either party", and "The action of the board may be appealed to the proper court." (§ 59-63-240) On a transfer ordered by an administrator: "The parents or legal guardian may appeal a transfer made by an administrator to the board." (§ 59-63-250)
No state office, phone number, or email for parents appears in the sources; the statute instead requires the district's own notice to carry "contact information for a legal aid service provider which may determine eligibility for free legal representation." (§ 59-63-240) That is the state's only published pointer to outside help at this layer, and it is a duty on the district, not an address the state itself publishes.

Sources last checked

Sep 1, 2026

Reproduced from the state's own statutes quoted below: potentially relevant official sources, not a determination of which one governs any situation.

This page assembles what South Carolina publishes in statute about K-12 school discipline. This is a baseline docket page: the governing sections, the lines the state draws, and the decision-makers and appeal route, quoted with dates. The full sections (the framework route by route, the four hoisted process rows, every stated timeline, the district delegation map, and records access) follow as the discipline layer deepens behind its breadth sprint; the change log states exactly what is not yet captured. On suspension, the state states the notice and a conference rather than a hearing: "When a pupil is suspended from a class or a school, the administrator shall notify, in writing, the parents or legal guardian of the pupil, giving the reason for such suspension and setting a time and place when the administrator shall be available for a conference with the parents or guardian. The conference shall be set within three days of the date of the suspension." (§ 59-63-230) Before an expulsion the statute states the written notice and what it must contain: "The written notification to the parents or legal guardian of the pupil must include their right to have legal counsel present at the hearing, the right to question all witnesses, and contact information for a legal aid service provider which may determine eligibility for free legal representation. The notification must also include the right to access the investigative file in its entirety, to include all documents and videos, at least three days prior to the hearing, with appropriate exemptions and redactions as required by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, 20 U.S.C. Section 1232g." (§ 59-63-240) The conduct rules themselves are the district's to write: the grounds at § 59-63-210(A) reach any "violation of written rules and promulgated regulations established by the district board, county board, or the State Board of Education", and that delegation will anchor the full page's delegation map. For a student with an IEP or Section 504 plan, the disability layer lives on this site's South Carolina special education page. District codes of conduct add procedural detail this page does not carry. Confirm applicability with the district and the agencies. All dates on this page are quoted from the sources, not a deadline calculation performed for you.