School's backers fight rent payment

Supporters of the Charleston Charter School for Math & Science contend that the school district cannot charge the school rent to occupy the former Rivers Middle School building, but the school district's attorney disagrees.

The county board has voted to rent classroom and office space to the charter school, set to open next year, at a rate of $11.28 per square foot.

A state law applicable only to Charleston County states that the school district may not deny a charter school "anything that is otherwise available to a public school." Those who back the math and science charter school interpret that to mean that the district cannot charge the school rent. The law also forbids the district from charging rent to conversion charter schools.

Park Dougherty, chair of the charter school committee, said the law establishes the school's right to receive everything that is provided to every other county public school, including use of a public school building with no rent. If the board does not change its stance on the issue, Dougherty said his group would file an appeal with the state education department.

Alice Paylor, the school district's attorney, said the law was passed to prevent the district from charging rent to Orange Grove Elementary when it was converting to a charter school. It doesn't say the district can't charge rent to a charter school that's not a conversion, and it would be a broad interpretation of the law to say that the district cannot charge rent to start-up charter schools, she said. That would mean the district would have to give every charter school a building, and "there's no way it could mean that," she said.

School board member Gregg Meyers , who also is an attorney, said he would give the law a broader interpretation. Meyers initially voted in support of charging the school rent, but now, "I don't think we have the latitude" to do so..

State Sen. Chip Campsen, R-Charleston, was one of the sponsors of the bill. He said the law in its general application could be brought to bear in this situation. The law requires charter schools to be treated as fairly as traditional public schools, and charging rent could be violating that general principle, he said. If the district has vacant or excess building space, it should be made available to charter schools at no cost, he said.

It does not mean the district would obligate itself to construct new buildings for charter schools or ensure space in district buildings for all charter schools, he said.

Supporters of the math and science charter school also no longer want to share the former Rivers Middle School building with the district's proposed High Tech High.

"From the beginning, we envisioned the Charleston Charter School for Math & Science at Rivers operating alone," Dougherty said. "We agreed to explore the possibility of sharing the building with other district programs, and having gone through that, we have concluded that we … cannot work it out."

The county school board is expected to receive advice from its attorney and discuss these issues at its meeting Monday night.

Reach Diette Courrégé at 937-5546 or dcourrege@postandcourier.com.