2023 South Carolina Code of Laws › Title 59 - Education › Chapter 40 - Charter Schools › Section 59-40-110. Duration of charter; renewal; revocation; termination or nonrenewal; closure protocol.

(A) A charter must be approved or renewed for a period of ten school years; however, the charter only may be revoked or not renewed under the provisions of subsection (C) of this section. The sponsor annually shall evaluate the conditions outlined in subsection (C). The annual evaluation results must be used in making a determination for nonrenewal or revocation.
(B) A charter renewal application must be submitted to the school's sponsor one hundred twenty calendar days before the end of the school year for the term of the charter contract, and it must contain:
(1) a report on the progress of the charter school in achieving the goals, objectives, pupil achievement standards, and other terms of the initially approved charter application;
(2) a financial statement that discloses the costs of administration, instruction, and other spending categories for the charter school that is understandable to the general public and that allows comparison of these costs to other schools or other comparable organizations, in a format required by the State Board of Education; and
(3) any proposed material changes to the current charter or charter school contract to be implemented in the next ten-year charter term.
(C) A charter must be revoked or not renewed by the sponsor if it determines that the charter school:
(1) committed a material violation of the conditions, standards, performance expectations, or procedures provided for in the charter application or charter school contract, or both;
(2) failed to meet the academic performance standards and expectations as defined in the charter application or charter school contract, or both;
(3) failed to maintain its books and records according to generally accepted accounting principles or failed to create an appropriate system of internal control, or both; or
(4) violated any provision of law from which the charter school was not specifically exempted.
(D) A sponsor summarily may revoke any charter school that is determined by the sponsor to pose an imminent threat of harm to the health or safety of students, or both, based on documented and clear and convincing data.
(E) Any charter school shall automatically and permanently close at the conclusion of the school year in which the school first becomes subject to automatic closure for receiving the lowest performance level rating as defined by the federal accountability system for three consecutive years beginning with student achievement data from the 2013-2014 school year. The determination of closure is considered final. Automatic closure shall not apply to any charter school serving fifty percent or more students with disabilities or any charter school designated as an Alternative Education Campus (AEC) by its sponsor as outlined in Section 59-40-111.
(F) At least sixty days before not renewing or terminating a charter school, the sponsor shall notify in writing the charter school's governing body of the proposed action. The notification shall state the grounds for the proposed action in reasonable detail. Termination must follow the procedure provided for in this section.
(G) The existence of another charter granting authority must not be grounds for the nonrenewal or revocation of a charter. Grounds for nonrenewal or revocation must be only those specified of this section.
(H) The charter school's governing body may request in writing a hearing before the sponsor within fourteen days of receiving notice of nonrenewal or termination of the charter. Failure by the school's governing body to make a written request for a hearing within fourteen days must be treated as acquiescence to the proposed action. Upon receiving a timely written request for a hearing, the sponsor shall give reasonable notice to the school's governing body of the hearing date. The sponsor shall conduct a hearing before taking final action. The sponsor shall take final action to renew or not renew a charter by the last day of classes in the last school year for which the charter school is authorized.
(I) A charter school seeking renewal may submit a renewal application to another charter granting authority if the charter school has not committed a material violation of the provisions specified in this section and the sponsor refuses to renew the charter. In such cases the charter school shall continue to receive local funding pursuant to Section 59-40-140(A). However, the charter school is not eligible to receive one hundred percent of the base student cost from the State. The charter school only is eligible to receive the percentage of the base student cost previously received as a school in its former district.
(J) A decision to revoke or not to renew a charter school may be appealed to the Administrative Law Court pursuant to the provisions of Section 59-40-90. Upon appeal to the Administrative Law Court, there is no automatic stay of the revocation or nonrenewal decision. Pending resolution of the appeal, the charter school also may move before the Administrative Law Court for imposition of a stay of the revocation or nonrenewal on the grounds that an unusual hardship to the charter school will result from the execution of the sponsor's decision.
(K) Prior to any public charter school closure, the sponsor shall develop a public charter school closure protocol to ensure timely notification to parents, orderly transition of students and student records to new schools, and proper disposition of school funds, property, and net assets in accordance with the requirements of this chapter. The protocol shall specify tasks, timelines, and responsible parties, including delineating the respective duties of the school and the sponsor. In the event of a public charter school closure for any reason, the sponsor shall oversee and work with the closing school to ensure a smooth and orderly closure and transition for students and parents, as guided by the closure protocol.
HISTORY: 1996 Act No. 447, Section 2; 2002 Act No. 341, Section 1; 2006 Act No. 274, Section 1, eff May 3, 2006; 2008 Act No. 239, Sections 1, 7, eff May 21, 2008; 2012 Act No. 164, Section 10, eff May 14, 2012; 2014 Act No. 288 (H.3853), Section 6, eff June 12, 2014.
Effect of Amendment
The 2006 amendment, in subsection (A), added the second and third sentences relating to use of annual evaluation results in making renewal decisions; added subsection (E) relating to existence of another charter granting authority; added subsection (G) relating to seeking renewal by another charter granting authority; and redesignated subsection (E) as subsection (F) and subsection (F) as subsection (H).
The 2008 amendment, in subsection (A), substituted "ten" for "five" in the first sentence; and in subsection (H), substituted "Administrative Law Court" for "state board".
The 2012 amendment substituted "sponsor" for "local school district board of trustee" in subsection (G).
2014 Act No. 288, Section 6, rewrote subsections (B) and (C), added subsections (D) and (E), redesignated former subsections (D) through (H) as subsections (F) through (J), rewrote subsections (I) and (J), and added subsection (K).