Board breaking law, says leader

A charter school leader has accused the Charleston County School Board of deliberately choosing to break a law that would benefit the district's charter schools.

Some school board members interpret the law differently and say they don't think its intent is to make the board fiscally irresponsible by giving charter schools whatever they want.

At issue is Act 189, a piece of legislation applicable only to Charleston County. It prohibits the district from denying a charter school anything that is otherwise available to a public school. The local law is controversial because some people think it means the school district must give charter schools more than the state funding formula requires, even if it means shelling out millions of dollars more each year to charter schools; others disagree.

The school board sued the state on the constitutionality of the law, and a circuit judge ruled less than two weeks ago that the law was valid. Some board members still don't think the court ruling spells out what the district owes charter schools, and the board agreed last week to appeal the case.

After the ruling, Greg Mathis Charter School leaders sent the district a letter and asked it to comply with the court's decision. They said appealing the case doesn't mean they can refuse to comply with Act 189, and they requested money to pay its past, current and future rent as well as transportation costs.

In any other county, a charter school would have to pay rent and transportation with the money they received from the state formula. But in Charleston County, some say Act 189 means the district must chip in extra for those bills, and that money would come from the district's general operating fund, which covers the costs for every other county school.

On Monday night, the school board voted 6-3 to deny providing the money requested by Greg Mathis Charter, a school for at-risk youth in North Charleston. Board members Elizabeth Kandrac, Arthur Ravenel Jr. and Ray Toler were in the minority.

Board member Gregg Meyers said no one challenges that the court found the law to be valid, but that the judge didn't make clear what Act 189 means. He doesn't think lawmakers intended for the district to roll over for charter schools and have no discretion or control over its budget if a charter school makes a request, he said. But if it means treating charter schools like any other school and not making special exceptions or rules for them, he said he could understand that.

The district already has a contract with Greg Mathis Charter and it does not include paying for costs such as rent and transportation, he said.

"I'm voting against us being a blank check," Meyers said.

Ravenel, who repeatedly has admonished the board for its refusal to abide by Act 189, again beseeched his fellow board members to follow the law. He said some charter schools operate successfully under "terrible" conditions because they don't have enough money, and the board needs to do what is right by doing what the law says.

"It's so plainly written," he said. "I could almost do it in pig Latin."

Vernon Holmes, who chairs the Greg Mathis Charter School board, said the county school board chose on Monday night not to follow the law, but they're doing it without penalty. He said he planned to take some action in response but didn't want to say specifically what that would be.

"They are not giving us things Act 189 says they must," he said.

The school has suffered mid-year budget cuts, and its board responded the only way it could -- by cutting teachers' salaries, Holmes said. Even so, the school's ability to remain open has been jeopardized, he said. The school's charter with the district is up for renewal this spring, and he said he thinks the board is gearing up to shut the school down.