BRIEFS: Changes expected for state public charter school law

BIG CHECK. Representatives from Jersey Mike’s Subs in the Charleston area presented a $250,000 check to MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children’s Hospital on June 23 for money raised during the company’s 11th annual Day of Giving in March.  Photo provided. 

Changes expected for state public charter school law

Staff reports  |  Two Lowcountry lawmakers are among those who weren’t surprised by a new state audit that said one of the state’s public charter school authorizers needed fixing.

More than 44,000 S.C. students attend the publicly funded schools that operate independently of county school boards.  A bipartisan coalition of state lawmakers says that next year it will seek to revise the state’s 25-year-old law regulating almost 60 charter schools that dot the state. 

Last week, the S.C. Legislative Audit Council issued a 92-page audit of the S.C. Public Charter School District, which oversees 33 charter schools.  The audit called for multiple accountability and operations changes. The state’s other authorizer of charter schools, The Charter Institute at Erskine, sponsors 26 charter schools.

State Sen. Larry Grooms, R-Berkeley, added that he’s heard criticisms of the Public Charter School District (SCPCD) for years.  

“For a while, it seemed that the SCPCD became more interested in nitpicking than in providing positive leadership,” he said today.  “The success of Erskine as an authorizer helped highlight some of the deficiencies at the SCPCD.  The LAC audit verified some of those deficiencies.”  

Charleston Republican Rep. LIn Bennett echoed the need for changes “not just to address these concerns, but to also bring the law up-to-date. This is something we hope to do over the summer and fall and introduce when we return to session in January.”

Florence Democratic Rep. Terry Alexander said he wasn’t shocked about the audit findings because of a January 2020 report that came from a special House ad hoc committee that probed issues at charter schools in 2019.  Its  sweeping report suggested myriad changes to the law, but the coronavirus pandemic put improvement efforts on hold.

“No one has been regulating them since the original regs came out,” said Alexander, who served on the committee with Bennett.  “”No real oversight has been given. That’s why this ad hoc committee came into being.”

State Rep. Raye Felder, a York County Republican who co-chaired the ad hoc House committee, said some charter schools excel, while others have challenges — just like with traditional public schools.  

“I anticipate changes to charter school legislation that was created over 20 years ago to include provisions not only highlighted in the [House] report but also shared by administration and parents over the course of the special committee that reviewed the charter school legislation,” she told our sister publication, Statehouse Report

• Read more about why accountability is the big issue for the state’s charter schools.

In other recent news:

Charleston LDC rebrands, gets big grant. The Charleston LDC, a nonprofit community development finance institution (CDFI) has secured $3.5 million in new grants and loans, ahead of its expansion and rebranding into the CLIMB Fund effective July 1. As Charleston LDC, the organization made over 490 loans worth $24.5 million to affordable housing developments and entrepreneurs, according to a press release, helping to create over 1,100 jobs and 472 affordable housing units. The organization has 197 active loans worth $11.3 million in six South Carolina counties, and 56 percent of borrowers are female, minority or veteran owned businesses. Read more.

Upgrades ahead for public housing.  Residents at three downtown public housing complexes will get renovations through a federal rehabilitation process of repairs and updates that allows most families to stay in place. Changes are ahead for these three complexes: Kiawah Homes, built in 1953 and home to 61 apartments at 2226 Sunnyside Drive; Meeting Street Manor, built in 1937 and home to 201 apartments at 230 Hanover St.; and Robert Mills Manor, built in 1938 and home to 222 apartments at 83 Beaufain St. Read more.

Scott kicks off Senate reelection bid.  U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., last week kicked off a bid to be reelected to the seat he holds. An election, which Scott says will be his last, is to be next year.  More.

Big check to fuel half million meals.  Crews Subaru and Subaru of America donated $86,561 last week to the Lowcountry Food Bank to help feed food-insecure neighbors in 10 coastal counties of the state.  The donation will create more than 500,000 meals for people who struggle with hunger, the nonprofit said.