Changes for state charter schools?

The Palmetto State's charter school law would receive a major makeover under a pre-filed bill that's being both lauded and lamented.

Rep. Phil Owens, R-Easley, is the legislation's primary sponsor and has met with supporters and detractors. His main objective was to ensure parity among the state's public schools so that all students would have equal opportunities, regardless of the type of school they attend.

The state's charter school law was passed in 1996, and it hasn't undergone a significant revision since. Owens compared the state's law with the national model and tried to update it to meet that standard.

State education leaders seemed to agree on the need to address some problems within the existing charter school legislation but differed on solutions. Some aspects of the bill have been met with staunch opposition, and those include:

— Increasing the amount of money that goes to the S.C. Public Charter School District.

— Allowing conversion charter schools to continue giving priority admission to students within its attendance zone.

— Giving converted charter schools the right to use their building and its equipment at no additional cost.

— Allowing charter school students to participate in extracurricular activities, including sports, at their neighborhood school if the charter school doesn't offer those activities.

Increasing funding

Schools can apply to become a charter through their local school board or the S.C. Public Charter School District, which was created four years ago as an alternative route to gain approval. The state charter district doesn't receive any local money; it only receives state and federal funds. The bill would increase by 50 percent the amount of state money going to schools in the state charter district.

The state has allocated extra money to schools in the state district the past two years to make up for the fact that they don't receive local money, and Owens said this funding formula change would make it more equitable for those schools. Even with the change, schools in the state district still wouldn't receive as much as schools that receive their charters from local school boards, Owens said.

But the extra money that would be going to charter schools in the state district likely would come from school districts statewide, and that's a concern, said Scott Price, attorney for the South Carolina School Boards Association.

Rep. Robert Brown, D-Hollywood, agreed, saying that while charter schools should be supported, the state's traditional public schools are struggling to find money and they need that same type of backing. This type of provision will take from one group of schools to give to another, he said.

Larry DiCenzo, principal of Orange Grove Elementary Charter and chairman of the state Charter School Advisory Committee, disagreed. He doesn't think the increase is enough for charter schools in the state district, and some might have to close because they can't pay their bills, he said. The state will not see growth in the number of charter schools in the state district until the funding is higher, he said.

Priority admission

DiCenzo made the suggestion to Owens to allow conversion charter schools to maintain their attendance zones. Students enrolled at the time of the conversion receive priority enrollment, but state law requires charter schools to open up their attendance boundaries to the entire county after that.

DiCenzo wants to enroll his neighborhood students first, but interest in the school has grown so much that he will have to do a lottery admission for its kindergarten, first and second grades for next year, he said. About 200 of the school's 700 students typically have come from outside its attendance zone.

Some fear the change would lead to more segregated schools. Dot Scott, president of the Charleston chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said this change could isolate schools and lead to less racial diversity. Charter schools should be open to more than just a select group of students, she said.

"The more kids who have the opportunity to attend the school, the better," she said.

Right to a building

The proposed legislation would give conversion charter schools -- those that once were a neighborhood public school -- the right to continue using its building and equipment at no additional cost. That rule already exists for Charleston as a result of Act 189 -- local legislation that prohibits the school district from charging rent to converted charter schools. Owens' proposal would change the rule for districts statewide.

Price said he's particularly concerned about that provision, and Brown agreed. The requirement would mean districts essentially have to turn over the building and equipment to charter schools when they already receive local, state and federal money to cover those costs, Brown said. That's unfair, he said.

DiCenzo said he thought the change was a good one because it would eliminate any question on that issue for neighborhood schools considering converting. More schools might be interested in becoming a charter as a result, he said.

Extracurriculars

Charter school students would be allowed to participate in extracurricular activities, including sports, at their neighborhood public school if their charter school doesn't have them, according to the proposed legislation.

The South Carolina High School League's existing rule is that students must be enrolled in the school for which they play. Jerome Singleton, the league's commissioner, said he's not sure what kind of effect the change would have on schools until he learned more about it.

This issue -- students who don't attend schools but want to play on their sports teams -- has been ongoing for a while, and school districts are concerned with this potential change, Price said. It costs money to field a team, outfit a child and cover that child's liability, and someone would have to pay those expenses for a child coming from a charter school, he said.

This aspect of the bill would be a huge change because of the number of students enrolled in the state's virtual charter schools who would become eligible to play sports, said Mary Carmichael, executive director of the South Carolina Association of Public Charter Schools.

Other changes

The proposed law includes a number of other changes that are important but likely won't be met with as much controversy. Some of those include:

— Eliminating the one-year waiting period for private schools that want to become a charter. Until now, private schools had to basically shut down for a year, and that was a road block for those schools, DiCenzo said.

— Allowing the creation of single-gender charter schools. Those are prohibited under state law.

— Eliminating the requirement to elect charter school boards annually. Only one-third of the board's seats would have to be open each year, and that change would give charter board's more stability and a better chance at obtaining loans, Carmichael said.

— Permitting school districts to keep up to 2 percent of the money allocated to charter schools to cover the costs of overseeing them. Charter school supporters aren't enthusiastic about this change, but some said they're willing to compromise on this piece if other aspects of the legislation are passed.

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