COLUMBIA, S.C. — State lawmakers took action on Thursday to get legislation that would provide teachers more flexibility and help tackle the teacher shortage signed into law before a legislative deadline.

The S.C. House of Representatives unanimously approved two bills that now include measures to give teachers more freedom to change jobs without running the risk of having their teaching certification suspended, among other measures meant to put more teachers into classrooms.

This week’s moves were meant to get the teaching measures passed into law before the Legislature’s biannual session comes to an end next Thursday, at which point any pending bills that haven’t become law will die.

Last year, the state House passed a measure to ensure South Carolina teachers have greater contract flexibility by a 111-0 vote. The move came as teachers have called for change to strict rules that can leave teachers blackballed from classroom positions if they leave a teaching job early.

A review by The State found that 166 teachers had their certifications suspended last year, most for breaking a teacher contract because a spouse had to move for work or a relative experienced a health crisis.

The Educator Assistance Act would give teachers more ability to get out of a contract with a school district without facing a year-long suspension. But since its passage out of the House in 2023, the bill has failed to be taken up for action by the Senate.

So on Thursday, the House approved two other education-related bills that already passed the Senate: S.124 would create a pilot program for hiring non-certified teachers, while S.305 would count some prospective teachers’ prior work experience outside of education toward getting their certificate. But after action taken by the House Education and Public Works Committee, those bills now also include the full text of the Educator Assistance Act as well.

“We’re trying to give the Senate opportunities to reconsider,” Rep. Shannon Erickson, R-Beaufort, said in introducing one of the bills on the floor Thursday. “So we add the entirety to this bill as well.”

Erickson is the chair of the education committee.

The amended bills will have to be reconciled with the Senate version to ultimately become law, but supporters of the Educator Assistance Act hope attaching them to bills that already have Senate approval will improve its chances of becoming law.

“We don’t want teachers to make a habit of flip-flopping, but this treats teachers as professionals, and give them a chance to explain their reasons and why they would leave,” Erickson said on the House floor Thursday.

If ultimately passed into law this year in whatever form, the Educator Assistance Act bill would:

▪ Allow teachers to opt out of their contracts within 10 days of the publication of the district’s salary schedule, which often comes after teachers have already signed their contracts for the next year;

▪ Limit the amount of time a school district has to report a breach and give the State Board of Education more flexibility in issuing suspensions;

▪ Move the starting date of a suspension from the date of the state board’s action to the day a teacher quit, which would allow a suspended teacher to return to the classroom sooner;

▪ And cut the maximum suspension for a breach of contract from a year down to six months.

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