South Carolina Open Enrollment & Magnet Programs

South Carolina offers interdistrict transfer and district magnet programs. They carry very different costs, so read both sections.

Interdistrict Transfer (Open Enrollment)

What It Is: S.C. Code § 59-8-165, rewritten by Act 11 of 2025, requires every traditional district to adopt an interdistrict enrollment policy. It is open to all South Carolina students, subject to capacity, and is still rolling out, so policies vary.

Cost: A receiving district may charge a transfer fee up to the previous year’s local per-pupil tax revenue, an amount SCDE publishes district by district. It may charge more only if your home district provides transportation, and its ordinary resident fees apply too. Districts must post the fee and offer payment plans. Education Scholarship Trust Fund money may be used to pay it.

How It Works:

1. The district posts capacity by school, grade, and program before its window opens. It need not take more nonresidents once a school hits at least 90% of capacity, and may waitlist
2. Apply during that window, ranking schools if allowed
3. It decides within 30 days of the window closing, in writing with reasons for any denial, and you get at least two weeks to accept
4. No renewal needed; your student follows the district’s feeder pattern

Application Timing: Each district’s window opens no later than February 1 and runs at least 90 days.

Grounds for Denial: Tier III disciplinary offenses in the prior year; more than 10 unexcused absences in elementary or middle school; or, in high school, more than 5 days absent from a 90-day course or 10 days from a 180-day course. Districts may not decide based on race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, income, disability, or athletic, artistic or extracurricular ability, unless that ability is part of a specialized program’s application process.

Special Education: A student may not be denied for a disability, and the receiving district must place them in a school meeting their IEP.

Transportation: Not required and not guaranteed, though districts must disclose their policy. Nonresident families are generally responsible, and a district offering a plan may charge.

Magnet and Specialized Programs

What They Are: Public schools, or programs inside schools, with a specialized curriculum such as arts, STEM, International Baccalaureate, or Montessori, open beyond the ordinary attendance zone.

Tuition: No tuition – these are public schools. Districts may charge the ordinary fees that apply to any public-school student.

Availability: The state directory lists 146 magnet program entries across 18 districts, most of them in the larger metro districts, led by Richland 2 (39) and Charleston 1 (25).

Admission: Run by each district, by lottery, criteria, audition, or interview. Windows are district-specific, typically in winter. Transfer students must get an equal opportunity to apply.

Important Note: A magnet seat in another district goes through interdistrict transfer, so the fee and family-paid transportation may apply. Moving inside your district is set by local policy.

Where to Start:

• SC Magnet School Directory
• SCDE Interdistrict Transfer Model Guidelines