Leader who moved SC charter school district ‘out of mediocrity’ is stepping down

Elliot Smalley, the reform-minded leader of the S.C. Public Charter School District, is stepping down in May to take another job.

After four and a half years at the helm, Smalley touted the district’s gains and thanked the charter district board, his staff and charter school leaders in a statement released Thursday. The statement said he would be leaving in May to become the CEO of Legacy Early College, a network of three charter schools in Greenville.

“The credit for our district’s turnaround goes to our charter school leaders and teachers: they are the ones making the decisions about what happens inside schools and doing the hard work of educating every child,” Smalley said.

“And now I’m thrilled to get even closer to this work by joining the talented team at Legacy — where we will stop at nothing to ensure that students of color and poverty get the education, dignity and freedom they deserve in the form of an excellent education that prepares them for college.”

Smalley’s exit ends what has been, at times, a tumultuous period of rapid growth and friction within the statewide charter school district, which currently has 35 brick-and-mortar and virtual schools and about 20,700 students enrolled around the state.

Smalley’s initiatives at the charter school district included helping high-performing schools replicate in other locations. He also was a vocal advocate for holding low-performing charter schools to higher standards.

His leadership was not appreciated by all charter school stakeholders.

During his leadership, some charter schools, including persistently low-performing ones in the statewide district, requested transfers to a new charter school authorizer at Erksine College, a private school in the Upstate.

The fissure, which erupted into a public feud noticed by state lawmakers, raised questions about the rapid growth of publicly funded charter schools and whether, under current state law, they would be held accountable.

Charter schools are publicly funded and governed by their own school boards.

Advocates of charter schools, which have seen an explosion of growth in South Carolina, pitch them as innovative alternatives to traditional public schools, promising better academic outcomes in exchange for freedom from many of the regulations imposed on traditional public schools.

In reality, charter schools in South Carolina have produced patterns of performance similar to traditional schools. Some are high fliers, while others lag behind their traditional counterparts.

‘He upset the status quo’

Under Smalley’s leadership, the district has touted rising graduation rates and test scores. Smalley also has recommended that the district shut down six schools.

“Closing schools is always the last resort, but our responsibility was always to the students,” Smalley said. “As a choice system built to innovate and to improve the achievement of students statewide, we needed to ensure that our choices are high quality.”

Chairman John Payne of the Public Charter School District said Smalley was hired to “dramatically improve our student achievement, bring accountability to our district, and be a model of access and equity for our state.

“Now nearly five years later, he and his team — and more importantly the schools under our sponsorship— have accomplished what they said they were going to do, making tremendous progress toward these goals and moving us out of mediocrity. He upset the status quo, and frankly that’s what our charter sector needed.”

State Sen. Vincent Sheheen, a Kershaw Democrat who chairs the Senate committee that helps decide the state’s spending plan for K-12 education, said he has “very much enjoyed working with Elliot and appreciated his passion for our schools.”

State Rep. Rita Allison, the Spartanburg Republican who chairs the S.C. House Education and Public Works Committee, said she “was a little surprised” to hear of Smalley’s departure.

“Elliot has done a really good job, and I think that he really had the charter schools at heart. ... From that standpoint, I hate to see him go. (I’m) anxious to see who is going to take his place.”

“I look forward to working with a new superintendent that will understand the nuance of charter schools and help build consensus to improve them, have relationships with school and local leaders, and be focused on pushing the children across South Carolina to succeed.”

This story was originally published January 9, 2020 at 12:56 PM.