Two Upstate teenagers turned a school project into state law and in the process have helped level the field for South Carolina's home-school students.
Todd Boone and Steven Bailey of Greenville wrote a bill that gives home-school students and their parents the same free or discounted admission at state museums, parks and other facilities as public school students.
On Tuesday, both the South Carolina House and Senate passed the bill, which was introduced by House speaker David Wilkins of Greenville among other lawmakers. The measure awaits Gov. Jim Hodges' signature.
The bill also sets aside Home School Awareness Week each October.
Steven and his brothers study at home at least four hours a day, five days a week.
"It's pretty much the same as public school, except we don't have homework because we are home and we are doing our work," he told WYFF News 4's Sharon Johnson.
Part of many home-school families' curriculum includes educational field trips. Those trips can be expensive for a large family, often on one income, one parent said.
"We've got four children in home school," Todd's mother, Jill Boone, told News 4. "When you add the cost of admissions, it's easily $100 or $200 for every little outing."
That was the genesis of the home-school project for Todd and Steven – trying to ease the financial burden for families like theirs.
They wrote the bill and enlisted Wilkins' aid. A year-and-a-half later, it is poised to become law.
"These boys have done something most senators cannot do this quickly," Jill Boone told News 4.