Decision coming in charter school lawsuit vs. SC High School League. Here’s the latest
The lawsuit involving a group of private and charter schools against the South Carolina High School League resumed on Thursday.
The parties held a more than two-hour virtual hearing before Richland County Common Pleas Judge Jocelyn Newman. The case shifted from Greenville County to Richland County after Judge Perry Gravely ruled June 2 in favor of the SCHSL, which requested a change in venue for the case.
But Gravely didn’t dismiss the case, something the High School League wanted.
What’s at stake?
Private and charter schools that are members of the S.C. High School League are seeking a temporary injunction that would prevent recent amendments from going into effect for the 2020-21 school year, which begins on July 1. The amendments approved in March by the High School League are related to school-to-school transfers and athletic eligibility rules.
The lawsuit filed against the High School League alleges that recently amended rules “intentionally and illegally discriminate” against the league’s private and public charter high school members.
Under one amendment, most students who transfer from traditional school to a charter or private school would have to sit out a year before they would be eligible to play any for athletic team.
In previous years, students were allowed to transfer to any high school in the state by the ninth grade and be immediately eligible athletically, even if they lived outside that school’s attendance zone. Now, any student who transfers would have to sit out a year before playing junior varsity or varsity athletics.
Those changes “bar most students who choose to attend a public charter or private school from participating in League athletics for a period of one year from enrollment,” the Public Charter School Alliance said in a statement on May 18.
There are 12 schools named as plaintiffs in the suit, including Gray Collegiate Academy from the Midlands. The four private schools that compete in the S.C. High School League are part of the lawsuit — Bishop England, Southside Christian, Christ Church and St. Joseph’s — as are other charter schools including Greer Middle College, Brashier Middle College, Greenville Technical Charter, Fox Creek, Oceanside Collegiate, Legion Collegiate and Palmetto Scholars.
The Public Charter School Alliance of South Carolina, the membership organization for charter schools within the state, also is named as a plaintiff.
The S.C. High School League has 206 members — that includes traditional public schools as well as 21 public charter schools and four private schools. Private and charter schools make up 12 percent of the membership but have racked up state championships in athletics in recent years, especially in Class A and Class 2A.
The SCHSL said the schools don’t have legal rights to sue or challenge actions by the league over the issues in question. The league also said the plaintiffs “failed to state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action.” That means the league says there isn’t any harm or damage suggested by the charter schools that warrant action by the court.
The latest: What happened Thursday
Tyler Turner, an attorney for many of the charter schools in the case, brought up an irreparable harm charge during Thursday’s hearing. He pointed out a “catastrophic” result to the schools if the amendments go into effect.
“Without temporary injunctive relief, they will lose students to the upcoming school year, which will cause loss of revenue and loss of teachers, coaches to those schools,” Turner said.
Turner and other attorneys for the private and charter schools pointed out that, by law, the schools shouldn’t have to be confined to a certain attendance zone. For example, a student wanting to go to Gray Collegiate in West Columbia would have to be zoned for Brookland-Cayce in Lexington 2 — unless granted a hardship waiver.
Turner said that goes against the S.C. Charter School Act.
“S.C. Charter School Act requires public charter schools to admit all children eligible to attend public regardless of where they lived,” Turner said. “... One of the purposes of charter schools is to give parents an option if their zoned traditional school isn’t meeting the needs of their child or an innovative program or better learning environment would be a better fit for their child.”
Turner also bought up that many districts in the state have what’s called “school choice,” where a child can go to any school in a given district as long they live there. For example, a person living in the Greenville County school district or Richland 2 can go to any school in the district because of school choice.
The private and charter schools also argued that they don’t have the benefit of feeder middle schools like other public high schools.
Michael Montgomery, one of the attorneys for the S.C. High School League, countered that with a charter school like Greenville Tech, despite being in Greenville County, isn’t part of the Greenville County School District.
Montgomery also said the rules are “facillary neutral” and apply to everyone in that position, including traditional public schools.
“The plaintiff schools are being treated the same based on their governance and how the rules are in place,” Montgomery said.
What’s next in the case?
Judge Newman hopes to make her decision in the case possibly as early as Monday.
If the private and charter schools win, a temporary injunction would be granted and amendments passed in March won’t go into effect for the 2020-21 school year. Gray Collegiate principal Brian Newsome told The State on Thursday that an injunction would give the private and charter schools time to meet with the SCHSL to try to come up with different solutions or possibly keep revert back to the old rule.
The SCHSL would have a chance to appeal the ruling if the case isn’t dismissed. SCHSL commissioner Jerome Singleton told The State on Thursday that appealing it would have to be approved by the league’s executive committee.
If the court rules in favor the S.C. High School League and dismisses the case, Newsome said the private and charter schools will discuss the next possible action, including appeal. He also said he would appeal for hardship waivers on behalf of Gray’s incoming freshmen and transfers to the SCHSL executive committee.
“We can do the hardship on every single freshman and transfer,” Newsome said. “We will take it to the executive committee or the appellate committee and we will be exhaustive in every effort possible. If you choose choice, you shouldn’t be penalized for it. We feel these new amendments do that.”
The private and charter schools also agreed to pay for the $15,000 injunction bond that guarantees the plaintiff will pay court fees, costs and damages sustained by the defendant if the court decides the injunction should have not been granted.
This story was originally published June 18, 2020 at 4:50 PM.
