SC Senate proposal may impose stricter transparency rules on charter schools

FILE – South Carolina state house (Photo credit: WLOS Staff)

(WPDE) — The South Carolina Senate Education Committee discussed a charter school accountability bill on Tuesday.

The bill would alter state law defining a charter school as a public, nonreligious, non-home-based, nonprofit corporation. The school would operate by authorization of a public school district, the South Carolina Public Charter School District, or a public or independent institution of higher learning.

The proposed bill, which was debated in committee Tuesday, requires charter schools to be more transparent, requiring them to post their annual audit on their websites.

The bill also sets up residency requirements for students to attend virtual charter schools.

Horry County Senator Greg Hembree talked to ABC15 about the importance of this bill.

“There are a lot of charter schools, I don’t know, there is like 50. I mean, you have some that are not doing well and you have some that are kind of sketchy acting. It doesn’t take more than one or two you know then we go, we need to fix this. It’s public money, and students are the ones that suffer the most.”

South Carolina Education Association President, Sherry East, said she supports this bill 100 %.

“Lots of concerns we hope are being addressed in this bill and it’s almost like they know even before we even got to the amendments, the concerns with charter schools were already addressed in there. So, it’s almost like somebody else figured out something is not passing the smell test in the charter school world,” East said.

East said public schools are held to a different standard than charter schools and said public schools have to show their whole budget and finances online.

“At charter schools, that is not the case right now as far as where the money is going and who’s spending the money. You know, what are we allocating these taxpayer dollars for because they are both funded by the legislator. So I think that’s why they are asking for some accountability. We are giving charter schools money, so what are they doing with it?” said East.