Bill would bar district rent charges for charter schools

The Charleston Charter School for Math & Science has fought the county school district for months about whether it should be charged rent for a district-owned building.

No other South Carolina charter school would have to engage in that same battle under a bill proposed Thursday by state Rep. Chip Limehouse, R-Charleston.

The bill would forbid school districts from charging charter schools rent for lease or use of a building owned by a school district. The change would apply to schools statewide, although the impetus for the legislation was the Charleston situation.

Limehouse chose to propose a statewide change because if it's good for Charleston, it should be good for the rest of the state, he said. Local legislation sometimes runs into problems with constitutionality, too, he said.

Charging a charter school rent for space in district buildings is double taxation, he said. Parents pay taxes to send their children to public schools, and the school district would be charging rent for a building that's already been paid for, he said. School districts shouldn't try to inhibit charter schools from opening, Limehouse said.

"School districts ought to welcome charter schools with open arms," he said. "Facts are very stubborn things, and all the facts say that charter schools work."

A Post and Courier survey of the state's 29 charter schools this fall found that only six are in school-district-owned buildings. None of those schools pay rent, but many pay utility and maintenance costs that are associated with the use of the building. The bill doesn't affect a school board's ability to charge charter schools for operational costs associated with use of a building, such as electricity, sewer and water bills, Limehouse said.

School board Chairman Hillery Douglas said he hopes lawmakers plan to provide money associated with the costs of owning a building, such as maintenance and upkeep, because they are dictating to the district the way it should be used.

"When you come up with a requirement, they ought to be at least willing to provide what it costs," he said.

The General Assembly shouldn't be interfering with the operation of the school district and use of its buildings, he said. Douglas asked whether the district should pay for an upgrade to a district building that a charter school wanted to use. That's what's happening in Charleston: The school district has agreed to let the math and science charter school use the former Rivers Middle School building, but making the building safe for students is going to require $24 million. Decisions about such situations should be left to school districts and charter schools, Douglas said.

Park Dougherty, chairman of the charter school's organizing committee, said it would be wonderful for the bill to pass, but "there's always another way to attempt to block us." The point of contention involving the math and science school has shifted from rent to the "alleged needs" of the building, he said. The bill would eliminate the rent issue, "then we'll brace ourselves for the next one," he said.

The Charleston County School Board has agreed to charge the charter school rent when it eventually is housed in the former Rivers building, but it appears that if a vote were taken now, that decision could be different. School board member Gregg Meyers, who voted in favor of charging the school rent, said he would change his vote to not charge the school rent. Douglas said the issue needs to be put back on its agenda so the board can be clear about its decision.

Scott Price, attorney for the state School Boards Association, said school boards have statutory authority to run districts and make decisions on the use of its buildings. If the school district owns a building, it ought to have the authority to do with it what it wants, he said. The charter school will open in trailers this fall and have use of the former Rivers Middle School building's gym and cafeteria.

Price said the bill raises other questions that should be addressed, such as how this issue can be separated from the issue of school districts providing building space for other groups.

Local co-sponsors include GOP Reps. Ben Hagood of Sullivan's Island; Wallace Scarborough, Charleston; and Annette Young, Summerville; and House Speaker Bobby Harrell of Charleston.

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