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Committee carries over bill to mandate cursive instruction, citing existing standards
Summary
The subcommittee carried over S.3578, a measure to require cursive instruction in third through fifth grades, after members noted current state standards already require cursive skills and asked for more testimony on what the statute would add.
The Education Subcommittee voted to carry over S.3578 after members questioned whether the bill was necessary given current academic standards.
Katie explained S.3578 would "require school districts to provide cursive writing beginning in the third grade and continuing instruction into the fourth and fifth grades" and noted that current standards already require third‑grade students to write upper‑ and lower‑case cursive and that fourth and fifth graders must demonstrate fluent and legible cursive skills.
No witnesses signed up to testify. Committee members voiced support for cursive instruction but said the statute may duplicate existing standards. The Senator from Greenville said the practice of teaching cursive is often carried out by families and schools and described its personal importance, but also agreed that if the content is already in the standards there may be no need for statutory redundancy.
The Senator from Greenville moved to carry the bill over to seek additional testimony; the motion passed by voice vote. The committee will seek further information from the bill’s author and other stakeholders before reconsidering the measure.
