Budget writers OK charter funds

COLUMBIA -- Legislative budget writers in the cash-strapped state want to make a $25 million investment in South Carolina charter schools, in a move intended to help several stay open in the coming months.

The House Ways and Means Committee agreed late Wednesday to carve out of the draft $5.2 billion budget $1,700 for every child in a virtual charter school within the statewide Public Charter School District above the base rate the state pays for every child in public school. Students in the charter district's brick-and-mortar schools will get $3,250 more for their education.

The decision came as the committee spent hours crunching numbers for the budget year that begins July 1.

Four of the charter district's 11 schools are at risk to close without more cash and another five are operating in the red.

About 9,300 students are enrolled in the district with more than 80 percent attending the online schools.

Stacey Lindbergh, chairman of the board for Palmetto Scholars Academy in North Charleston and a mother of two of the school's 191 students, said the money "means everything" to the school community. Unlike traditional public schools, the charter schools in the statewide district are funded only by state and federal sources. They do not receive any local funds.

"We're the lowest-funded school district in the United States right now," she said. "We're living in eduction poverty. It is imperative that these public school students get their funding."

But Lindbergh can't breath easy yet.

The committee still must finalize its proposed budget before it goes to the full House in mid-March. The charter school funding plan could face opposition when the budget hits the floor from lawmakers who see it as taking money from the traditional public schools that have been slammed with years of spending cuts. Budget writers, however, said they took measures to ensure the charter school money wasn't dipping into cash for traditional schools.

Democrats, including Hollywood Rep. Robert Brown and Orangeburg Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, mentioned their concern that the Legislature make a cash commitment to the traditional schools. The state is facing a $700 million budget gap.

"Do you think in this economy we are creating yet another expectation that the General Assembly will have trouble funding?" Cobb-Hunter said during a debate on a charter school bill earlier Wednesday.

An early plan was stripped from the bill to force the 85 traditional school districts to relinquish local tax dollars to follow children who attend the state-approved charter schools.

The bill, which received key approval in an 85 to 32 vote, no longer addresses the funding aspect. The bill needs a final perfunctory vote in the House before it goes to the Senate.

Among other measures, the bill allows for the creation of single-gender charter schools and gives four-year colleges and universities, as well as technical colleges, the ability to authorize charter schools for public school students, allowing a third avenue for their creation. Currently, charters are granted by either the local district or the statewide charter school district.

Traditional public districts and the charters they approve receive money from the federal government, $1,720 the state expects to pay next fiscal year as a base rate for each child and cash from local sources, an amount that varies greatly per district.

This year, charter school students in the statewide district received the federal cash and the state's base rate, plus $700 extra per child from the state's general fund.

Lawmakers, including House Speaker Bobby Harrell of Charleston and Rep. Joe Daning of Goose Creek, both Republicans, like the newer education model because it gives parents more options in the public school system that may be better suited to the individual ways children learn.

"Education funding should be directly focused and tied to the needs of individual students in the classroom," Harrell said in a statement. "Providing an opportunity for our students to achieve academic excellence in alternative public school options will improve education in our state."

Lindbergh, of the Palmetto Scholars Academy, said the parents of children in the school pay the same taxes as the parents of other public schoolchildren.

The school, which opened in the fall on the former Charleston Naval Base, has used the legislative discussions as a chance to teach their students, who have written and called lawmakers to ask for their support.

"Our whole school community is watching very closely," she said.

Reach Yvonne Wenger at 803-926-7855, follow her on Twitter at @yvonnewenger and read her Political Briefings blog.