Could a South Carolina school district require binding student enrollment promises with a charter-school application?

Plain-English summary

A charter-school organizer asked whether the school district could require students to sign binding commitments to attend when the charter application was filed. The Attorney General said he knew of nothing in the Charter School Act that imposed such a requirement. The law required evidence that enough parents, teachers or pupils supported forming the school, but the opinion distinguished evidence of support from a binding attendance pledge.

The opinion deliberately left two related issues unanswered. It did not decide whether a list of interested students had to accompany the application because that question was pending before the South Carolina Supreme Court. A footnote also declined to decide a related federal student-privacy question while that appeal was pending.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 1998. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

Common questions

Q: Did the AG find a binding student-commitment requirement in the 1998 Act?
A: No. Even if a list of interested students were required, the opinion said it found no statutory requirement that those students commit to attending at application time.

Q: Did the opinion decide whether the applicant had to provide a student list?
A: No. That issue was then on appeal, so the AG expressly declined to answer it.

Q: Did the AG decide the related student-privacy question?
A: No. The footnote said the privacy question related to the pending appeal and was not addressed.

Background and statutory framework

The opinion quoted the Act's definition of a charter school and its requirement for evidence of community support. It separated that support requirement from a binding enrollment commitment. The pending litigation set the limit of the opinion's answer.

Citations and references

• § 59-40-40, the charter-school definition quoted in the opinion.
• §59-40-60 (F)(3), the applicant-support requirement quoted in the opinion.

Official title

Relating to your organization’s development plans for a charter school with a grant from the State Department of Education.

Requester

Tammy D. Crooks, Special Assistant for Charter School Development, Williamsburg Enterprise Community Commission, Inc.

Source

• Landing page: https://www.scag.gov/opinions/opinions-archive/september-21-1998/
• Original PDF: https://www.scag.gov/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/98sept21crooks.pdf

Original opinion text

The State of South Carolina

OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
CHARLES M. CONDON
ATTORNEY GENERAL

September 21, 1998

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Tammy D. Crooks
Special Assistant for Charter School Development
Williamsburg Enterprise Community Commission, Inc.
P.O. Box 428
Kingstree, SC 29556
(Also by fax: 803-354-3252)
Dear Ms. Crooks:
You have requested advice as to questions related to your organizations development the plans for a charter school with a grant from the State Department of Education. Those issues are separately addressed below. S.C. Code Ann. § 59-40-40 (Supp. I 997)ofthe Charter School Act defines a "charter school" as a "public, nonsectarian, nonreligious, nonhome-based, nonprofit corporation forming a school which operates within a public school district, but is accountable to the local school board of trustees of that district, which grants its charter." In essence, a "charter school" is a school "that is free of many of the constraints of state regulation and that uses creative and unconventional instructional techniques and structures .... "Howard, "Rewarding and Sanctioning School District Performance By Decreasing or Increasing The Level of State Control," 5 Kansas Journal of Law and Public Policy, 187, 189 (Spring, 1996). See also §59-40-50 (A). You have asked whether the school district to which your commission will apply for a charter may require that students sign binding commitments to attend the school at the time application is made. I know of nothing in the charter school law that contains such a requirement. The Act does require "evidence that an adequate number of parents, teachers , pupils or a combination thereof support the formation of a charter school." §59-40-60 (F)(3). Whether this provision requires the

REMBERT

c. DENNIS BUILDING

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Posr 01+1CF Box 11549

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COL!JMl!IA, S.C. 29211-1549

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TEU'l'llONE: 80.1- 734-3970

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fACSIMllE 80.1-253-628\

Ms. Tammy D. Crooks
September 21, l 998
Page 2
submission of a list of interested students at the time of application is currently one of the subjects of an appeal pending before the South Carolina Supreme Court. (Beaufort County School District v. Lighthouse Charter School Committee, et al). Normally, Opinions of Office do not address matters that are the subject of litigation. Accordingly, I do not address herein whether a list must be produced at the time of application; however, even if such a list were required, I know of nothing in the charter school act that would require that students commit at the time the charter application is made. See §59-40-50 (8)(6) and (7). 1

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This letter is an informal opinion. It has been written by the designated Assistant Deputy Attorney General and represents the opinion of the undersigned attorney as to the specific questions asked. It has not, however, been personally reviewed by the Attorney General nor officially published in the manner of a formal opinion.

If you have further questions, please let me know.

JESJr.

1

You have asked whether the requirement that student names be produced would violate the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. 20 U.S.C.§ I 232g. I do not address this question because it relates to the above issue on appeal; however, I do note for your information that FERPA contains exemptions for the release of information to other school officials having legitimate educational interests. § l 232g (b ).
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