News - Charter School Loopholes Exposed: State Urged to Act

In a complex education landscape, the Public Charter School District remains committed to the mandate requiring the closure of charter schools that fail to meet educational standards for three consecutive years. However, a legal loophole enables financially troubled private colleges, like Erskine College, to intervene by adopting these underperforming charter schools, thereby averting closures, and reaping 2% of the public funds allocated to these schools. Amid mounting lawmaker pressure, Erskine was compelled to adhere to the accountability laws, prompting Limestone College to establish its own charter authorizing body. This move exemplifies a controversial practice known as authorizer shopping, allowing authorizers to sidestep state regulations. This problem is exacerbated by the propensity for charter authorizers and unregulated charter management entities to incite superficial local demand for new charter schools, thus capitalizing financially without undergoing thorough state scrutiny. These circumstances are compounded by previous authorizers' lack of diligent oversight. Erskine and Limestone, representing the first two self-selected authorizers, have failed to consistently uphold accountability standards. Despite this, the state lacks the authority to block The Charter Institute at Erskine from broadening its scope by assimilating additional charters from Limestone, both current schools and upcoming initiatives. Despite these challenges, transitioning the majority of Limestone's charter institutions back under the framework of legitimate governance marks a substantial achievement. However, the onus remains on the students, parents, and citizens to push the Legislature towards creating impactful educational legislation. The dissolution of a significant anti-accountability advocacy body, paired with a revealing state audit on Erskine's operations, presents a crucial chance for education reform advocates. The goal is to motivate legislative bodies, which have so far made tentative strides, to eliminate authorizer shopping practices and enhance the enforceability of ethics, conflict-of-interest rules, and public records laws.