Charter Schools in South Carolina

Law:   Passed in 1996

Rank:   18th weakest of the nation's 40 charter laws

CER Grade:   C

Schools:   13

Students:   1,235

LAW OVERHAUL?: Legislators in the Palmetto state will be fixing a law whose provision for quotas was thrown out by the courts last year. While there are only 8 charters there, a growing number of social service and youth advocates are mobilizing for change. CER Newswire November 29, 2000.
NO ACTION: In response to the court ruling that state's 1996 charter school law is unconstitutional because it includes racial quotas, House lawmakers began to pursue removing the restriction, but the Senate preferred loosening the requirement. However, neither occurred as the legislature retired for the year without reaching a compromise. The fate of South Carolina's existing charter schools remains uncertain. CER Newswire, July 6, 2000

RULING: The state Supreme Court ruled the state's law unconstitutional because of a provision in the law that requires charter schools to mirror the district's racial balance. Rather than just finding that provision unacceptable, the court threw out the whole law, meaning that legislators will likely have to pass new legislation authorizing charter schools. Of the nine cases to date nationwide in which school boards have sued the state over charter schools, this has been the first defeat for charters. CER News Alert, May 11, 2000

NEED FOR BALANCE: Some South Carolina legislators are working to remove racial quotas from the state's charter school law, citing the quotas as a major reason for the low number of charter schools that have been established so far, since it's next to impossible to guarantee that enrollment will reflect the same racial balances as other schools. African-American lawmakers oppose removing the quotas, arguing that removal could result in segregated schools. Such an argument assumes that neither the sponsoring agent nor the state oversees these schools - but the evidence of charter schools around the country shows otherwise. CER Monthly Letter, February - March 2000

South Carolina Charter School Association (Greenville Tech. Charter School) P.O. Box 5616 Greenville, SC 29606-5616	Contact: David A. Church Telephone: (864) 250-8845 Fax: (864) 250-8846
South Carolina Association of Public Charter Schools 103 North Main Street Greenville, SC 29601	Phone: (864) 232-8654 Email: info@sccharterschools.org Website: www.sccharterschools.org/