From The Post and Courier

In the 14 years since South Carolina’s charter school law was passed, the number of charter schools stands at 37. It would have been more had state law and local school districts been more accommodating to their creation.

It is time for the Legislature to make adjustments to the law that ensure financial support for charter schools and relieve them of some burdensome rules. Rep. Phil Owens, R-Easley, has filed a bill, which passed out of committee and is before the full House. It provides a good start.

Most of the bill’s provisions shouldn’t be controversial. For example, it would allow for single-gender charter schools that are now prohibited. It would allow school districts to deduct money from charter schools’ allotments to cover modest supervisory costs. And it would change the election schedule for charter school boards to provide sime continuity.

The sticking points are likely to be those involving money — something no schools have enough of these days. Charter schools need help. Those in the State Public Charter School District, in particular, receive about half the per-pupil allowance that other schools receive, and that is hardly fair.

What seems unnecessarily controversial is a proposal to allow public schools that convert to charter schools to give priority admission to students within their attendance zones.

It recognizes that neighborhood schools require less transportation and foster a sense of community.

Indeed, Charleston County School Superintendent Nancy McGinley has recently won conceptual support from the board for a choice plan to reconfigure the school district so that students in each quadrant of the county would have several schools from which to choose — all of them nearby.

Another provision would be complicated but worth pursuing — allowing charter school students to participate in extracurricular activities, including sports, at their neighborhood schools (if the charter doesn’t offer them).

Charter schools are public schools, and it’s clearly in the best interest of students to foster their artistic, leadership or athletic talents.

The charter school journey has not been smooth. But the efforts of charter advocates have paid off in the form of student successes and in demonstrating that school choice is a worthy aim.

Governing legislation should help maintain momentum for a significant educational trend.