School studies charter status

Drayton Hall Elementary eyes change

A high-achieving West Ashley elementary school could become Charleston County's third neighborhood school to convert to a charter.

Drayton Hall Elementary is in the process of determining whether the community would support the change. Faculty members voted unanimously last week in support of a charter school, and parents will cast their votes in the next few weeks. The state requires at least two-thirds of faculty and parents of enrolled students to agree to the filing of a charter school application.

As a charter school, Drayton Hall would receive more money and have the ability to operate independently of the Charleston County School District's mandates. Students from across the county likely would be able to attend.

If parents approve the change, the school would submit an application to the state Charter School Advisory Committee, which would have to sign off. The county school board also would have to give its OK, and the school's goal is to open as a charter in August 2009.

The pre-kindergarten through fifth-grade school with more than 700 students opened four years ago and has toyed with the idea since then. When the proposal resurfaced and came from teachers, the school's leadership decided to let parents have their say.

One of the primary reasons for converting would be to provide consistency of quality education, Principal John Cobb said. The school's absolute rating on the state report card has been good for two years, but its improvement rating has swung from below average to excellent and back to below average.

Cobb's goal is for the improvement rating to consistently improve, and that could be accomplished by adding programs, such as foreign language and band, he said.

More money also is a draw, he said. State law mandates that charter schools receive the same amount of money per child as the district's revenue divided by its total enrollment.

That formula means Drayton Hall would receive more. Cobb didn't know how much more, but Larry DiCenzo, principal of Orange Grove Elementary Charter School and a member of the state charter advisory committee, estimated that it could be as much as $850,000, and that's after paying for new programs and teachers.

Both Orange Grove and James Island High got more than $1 million more after becoming charter schools.

School board Chairman Hillery Douglas was OK with Drayton Hall becoming a charter school but took issue with the state's funding formula. The conversion schools get a big windfall, and that leaves less money to give to other district schools, he said.

"How many more of these can the school district can afford?" he asked. "The district needs to be proactive on how to deal with this because it's going to bankrupt the district."

DiCenzo said charter schools are taking the money that's due to them. In a traditional public school, the money doesn't follow the child, and that needs to happen, he said.

Some of the school's active parents seemed supportive of the change. Carolyn Deweese has a third-grade daughter enrolled in the school and volunteers there weekly. She liked the charter school idea because of the autonomy and flexibility it would provide, as well as new programs, she said.

"I want my child to get the best education she can get, and I feel like the people who are inside the school are the best people to make that decision," Deweese said.

Reach Diette Courrégé at 937-5546 or dcourrege@ postandcourier.com.