Charter schools in South Carolina have been in the news recently. What do you know about charters? Questions briefly answered here: What is a charter school? How is it different from a “regular” public school? What has been the growth and performance of these schools? What are some current issues surrounding charters in the state?
School districts in South Carolina are losing a large and growing amount of local revenue for school operations from the property tax exemption for primary residence homes and corporate tax abatements such as FILOTs. In combination, the net operations loss for all school districts in South Carolina is nearing $1.5 billion per year and growing.
More than one out of five students in South Carolina public schools are chronically absent (miss 18 or more school days in a school year). This rate is nearly twice as high as before the Covid pandemic. Large increases occurred across student demographic groups and all school levels.