§ 59-40-55 — Sponsor powers and duties; retention of funds.

(A) In order to promote the quality of charter school outcomes and oversight, the charter school sponsor shall adopt national industry standards of quality charter schools and shall authorize and implement practices consistent with those standards. (B) A charter school sponsor shall: (1) approve charter applications that meet the requirements specified in Sections 59-40-50 and 59-40-60; (2) decline to approve charter applications according to Section 59-40-70(C); (3) negotiate and execute sound charter contracts with each approved charter school; (4) monitor, in accordance with charter contract terms, the performance and legal/fiscal compliance of charter schools to include collecting and analyzing data to support ongoing evaluation according to the charter contract; (5) conduct or require oversight activities that enable the sponsor to fulfill its responsibilities outlined in this chapter, including conducting appropriate inquiries and investigations, only if those activities are consistent with the intent of this chapter, adhere to the terms of the charter contact, and do not unduly inhibit the autonomy granted to public charter schools; (6) collect, in accordance with Section 59-40-140(H), an annual report from each of its sponsored charter schools and submit the reports to the Department of Education; (7) notify the charter school of perceived problems if its performance or legal compliance appears to be unsatisfactory and provide reasonable opportunity for the school to remedy the problem, unless the problem warrants revocation and revocation timeframes apply; (8) take appropriate corrective actions or exercise sanctions short of revocation in response to apparent deficiencies in charter school performance or legal compliance. These actions or sanctions may include requiring a school to develop and execute a corrective action plan within a specified timeframe; (9) determine whether each charter contract merits renewal, nonrenewal, or revocation; (10) provide to parents and the general public information about charter schools authorized by the sponsor as an enrollment option within the district in which the charter school is located to the same extent and through the same means as the district in which the charter school is located provides and publicizes information about all public schools in the district. A charter school shall notify its sponsor of its enrollment procedures and dates of its enrollment period no less than sixty days before the first day of its enrollment period; and (11) permanently close any charter school at the conclusion of the school year after receiving the lowest performance level rating as defined by the federal accountability system for three consecutive years in accordance with Section 59-40-110(E). (C) The South Carolina Public Charter School District may retain no more than two percent of the total state appropriations for each charter school it authorizes to cover the costs for overseeing its charter schools. The sponsor's administrative fee does not include costs incurred in delivering services that a charter school may purchase at its discretion from the sponsor. The sponsor's fee is not applicable to federal money or grants received by the charter school. The sponsor shall use its funding provided pursuant to this section exclusively for the purpose of fulfilling sponsor obligations in accordance with this chapter.

Legislative History

HISTORY: 2012 Act No. 164, SECTION 1, eff May 14, 2012; 2014 Act No. 288 (H.3853), SECTION 2, eff June 12, 2014. Effect of Amendment 2014 Act No. 288, SECTION 2, added subsection (A), redesignated former subsections (A) and (B) as subsections (B) and (C); added subsection (B)(11); and made other nonsubstantive changes.