Board approves 2nd charter

The Charleston County School Board has passively approved a second new charter school to open in the fall of 2010, but it still is trying to block a neighborhood school from converting to a charter.

The school board would've had to schedule a public hearing if it planned to oppose the proposed Apple Charter School's application, but the board didn't and so its application has been approved.

It's the same scenario that unfolded about a month ago with Pattison's Academy for Comprehensive Education, which plans to serve 30 students who have multiple, profound disabilities. The board didn't hold a hearing, effectively giving the school its approval.

All the while, the district has been involved in a legal battle with Drayton Hall Elementary School in West Ashley. The board turned down the school's request in December to become a charter, and the school filed an appeal in January. An administrative law judge will hear the case in October.

When the board denied Drayton Hall's charter application, it also put a temporary moratorium on approving future charter schools. The conditions that had to be resolved included determining the extent of its funding cuts and reviewing the academic performance of existing charter schools.

The board also wanted to receive a ruling on its lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a local law, Act 189, that requires the district to give more to charter schools than the general state law mandates. State law calls for charter schools to pay their bills with an amount of money determined by a formula, but Act 189 requires the district to give charter schools anything it would provide to any other public school. The case still is pending.

The board has approved two new charter schools, despite the unresolved conditions needed to lift the moratorium.

David Pagliarini, the attorney who's representing Drayton Hall in its appeal, said the board went out of its way to deny Drayton Hall's application.

"It's clearly singled out Drayton Hall," he said. "I can't figure out why they've tacitly agreed to two new charters at the same time not permitting Drayton Hall to move forward."

The board claimed to not have enough money for Drayton Hall, but in allowing these two charter schools to open, money is apparently not an issue, he said.

The board's action is consistent with the way it has vehemently opposed two other neighborhood schools from converting to charters, he said.

School board Vice Chairman Gregg Meyers said the issues with Drayton Hall wanting to convert were more complicated than those with the two recently approved charter schools. Drayton Hall had a substantial financial impact — the school would receive about $2 million more annually as a charter — and it created an attendance zone issue, he said.

The board also didn't want to spend more money on the school as a charter and get the same academic results as before, which is what has happened with James Island Charter High School since it converted, he said.

The Apple Charter School plans to eventually serve 280 at-risk students in kindergarten through eighth grade, and it will target students who scored below basic or basic on the state's standardized test.

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