Teaching License from California to South Carolina: Does It Transfer? (2026)

A teaching certificate transfers from California to South Carolina by endorsement — there is no automatic reciprocity, but you do not start over. Apply to the South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE) — Office of Educator Services, verify your California license, and meet South Carolina's endorsement requirements. South Carolina accepts a valid, standard out-of-state credential that documents both completion of an approved educator preparation program recognized by the issuing state and that the issuing state's certification examination requirements were met; in that case SCDE does not require South Carolina's exams for the fields being transferred. If the applicant did not complete subject-area and pedagogy assessments as part of the licensing or certification process in another state, SCDE may require South Carolina testing and will notify the applicant. Separately, an educator issued an Initial certificate must document successful completion of a pedagogy assessment during that certificate's validity period..

South Carolina accepts a valid, standard out-of-state credential that documents both completion of an approved educator preparation program recognized by the issuing state and that the issuing state's certification examination requirements were met; in that case SCDE does not require South Carolina's exams for the fields being transferred. If the applicant did not complete subject-area and pedagogy assessments as part of the licensing or certification process in another state, SCDE may require South Carolina testing and will notify the applicant. Separately, an educator issued an Initial certificate must document successful completion of a pedagogy assessment during that certificate's validity period.. Holding a California license does not by itself waive South Carolina's tests — experience or National Board certification is what typically does.

Generally yes on a provisional or one-year South Carolina certificate issued while you complete its requirements; districts hire on that credential.

$105 ($105 non-refundable application processing fee paid online through My SC Educator Portal; the fingerprinting and criminal-records-review vendor fee is charged separately and is not published on the reciprocity pages); processing SCDE publishes no processing timeframe on its out-of-state or reciprocity pages — the word 'weeks' does not appear on them; SCDE states only that submitting all documentation at one time expedites processing of the application.