At its Aug. 11 monthly meeting, the SCSB approved entering into formal rule-making to amend the agency's Administrative Rules. Proposed changes to the rules will soon enter a public comment period before they are sent to state lawmakers and the Governor later this year for their consideration and approval. Proposed changes relate to the process for proposed schools to apply to the SCSB for authorization and they increase the weight for academic performance in the performance framework of SCSB authorized schools from 40 percent to 60 percent, reducing the weights for Finance and Governance from 30 percent each to 20 percent each. The Board believed the current framework could reward schools that were financially sound and following governance standards but that consistently failed to deliver academic growth in student achievement.

Proposed changes in the administrative rules to the application process do not remove any statutory requirements. They simply distinguish these requirements as pre-application, Phase 1 application, and Phase 2 ready-to-open school application. The SCSB agreed the prior process required proposed schools to indicate steps they would take to be ready to open within 18 months when they initially applied to the SCSB, but lesser emphasis on actual evaluation of whether those steps had been taken before a ready-to-open authorization was given. These proposed changes are also aligned to 2025 guidance issued by the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) as application best practices for charter authorizers.

These proposed administrative rule changes are not yet in the public comment phase of rule-making, but stakeholders will be informed as soon as they are. After public comment, the proposed rules may be modified before going to the SCSB for a formal vote and then being sent to lawmakers and the Governor. See the proposed rule changes by clicking on the tabs below.

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