S.C. Senate procrastinates grading floor ban

Update 4/9/2026: A Senate Education subcommittee and the full Senate Education committee both scheduled H.5073 for a hearing next week

South Carolina lawmakers are considering legislation that would prohibit school districts from requiring teachers to assign grades higher than a student’s actual performance.

The proposal, H.5073, aims to address grading floor policies used in some school districts that require teachers to assign a minimum score – often between 50% and 60% – even when a student earns a lower grade.

Supporters argue that the change would ensure student grades more accurately reflect academic performance.

The grading floor ban passed the House floor in the beginning of March and has yet to have a hearing in a Senate Education subcommittee.

The problem with grading floors

Grading floors have become increasingly common in some schools over the past decade. Supporters of grading floors argue that the traditional 100-point grading scale can disproportionately punish students when a single zero dramatically lowers a final grade. Critics say these policies can weaken academic accountability by allowing students to receive partial credit even when work is not completed.

Grading policies that soften the impact of failing work can contribute to a larger issue in education: students advancing to the next grade level without fully mastering required material. When grades do not accurately reflect academic performance, educators and parents may have a harder time identifying when students need additional support before moving on to more advanced coursework.

South Carolina’s educational outcomes have also become a part of the conversation. The state currently ranks 43rd nationally in K-12 public education performance, according to some national comparisons. Graduation rates have risen over the past decade – increasing from about 74% during the 2010-2011 school year to more than 82% by the 2019-2020 school year. Some critics of grading floors argue that rising graduation rates alongside declining test scores could indicate grades do not always reflect actual academic mastery.

End-of-course exam scores declined between 2016 and 2018 – around the same period when more schools began adopting grading floor policies – and dropped again following the COVID-19 pandemic.

What the bill would do

H.5073 would prohibit school districts from requiring that teachers assign grades that exceed a student’s actual performance on completed assignments and assessments.

If a district adopts or enforces a grading policy that requires teachers to give grades higher than what students earned, the South Carolina Department of Education would be required to withhold 10% of the district’s State Aid to Classroom funding.

The bill also includes several additional provisions related to grading policies.

For high school credit courses, grades would be required to reflect academic performance only, rather than factors such as behavior or participation. The legislation also would place restrictions on credit recovery and content recovery programs. Students would only be eligible for those programs if they completed all required assignments for the original course according to district rules.

In addition, the bill would prevent districts from requiring scores from certain benchmark or formative assessments to be included in a student’s final course grade, although schools could still use those assessments to monitor academic progress.

New grading policy task force

The legislation would also require the State Board of Education to create a task force to study potential revisions to South Carolina’s Uniform Grading Policy.

The task force would include educators, administrators, school board members, and high school students. Its purpose would be to evaluate whether the state’s grading system effectively measures college and career readiness and whether grade point averages remain meaningful indicators of student achievement.

This group would be required to report recommendations by February 2027, and any revisions adopted by the State Board of Education would be implemented statewide by the 2028-2029 school year.

The path forward

It’s imperative for the future development of South Carolina students that the Senate advance the H.5073 grading floors ban to the floor for passage.

The House was quick to act on restoring merit to our state’s grading system, and the policy council recommends the same intentionality from the Senate.

Cameron Rumpp is a research intern for the South Carolina Policy Council.

This report may be republished in whole or in part, provided that proper credit is given to the author(s) and the South Carolina Policy Council.