Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Charter Transfers topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
PCSD outlines rapid takeover and transfer of Limestone Charter Association schools; board ratifies contracts for 14 schools
Summary
Following the Limestone Charter Association's cessation of authorizer duties, PCSD staff described emergency transition work, financial arrangements and data migration; the board approved staff recommendations to accept and sign charter contracts for 14 transfer schools effective July 1, 2026.
The SC Public Charter School District on April 23 described an intensive, short-term operation to assume proxy oversight of schools affected by the Limestone Charter Association's dissolution and ratified staff-recommended charter contracts for 14 transfer schools.
Staff said the Department of Education redirected funding and the district entered a March memorandum of understanding to assume operational and LEA responsibilities for 17 LCA schools (12 open schools transferring immediately to PCSD, two to the Charter Institute at Erskine and three slated for closure). A senior staff speaker summarized the emergency response: staff completed draft 135th day reports for all LCA schools within 24 hours, began migrating PowerSchool data into PCSD systems and wrote import code to pre-populate school records.
On the technical work, staff singled out one team member's contribution: "Lisa Santiago on our team... wrote between Monday and Tuesday evening she wrote 3,000 lines of code so that we can import data with the highest level of efficiency," staff said, describing rapid preparation to avoid disruption.
The board also took formal action on transfer contracts. Staff (Kristen Farmer) requested approval of signed contracts for Atlantic Collegiate Academy; Coastal High School; Discovery School at Myrtle Beach; Discovery School at Rock Hill; Eastlink Academy; Global Academy of South Carolina; Go Cher Charter Academy; Horse Creek Academy (Aiken); Legion Collegiate Academy; Mountain View Preparatory; Oceanside Collegiate Academy; Orangeburg High School for Health Professions; Riverstone High School; and Somerville Preparatory Academy, effective July 1, 2026. A board member moved to accept the staff recommendation; the motion was seconded and approved by voice vote.
PCSD leaders emphasized planning to avoid interruptions in funding, student services and accountability reporting during the transfer. One senior staff presenter said, "we do not anticipate any disruption in the flow of funding," and described daily coordination with the Department of Education and the Charter Institute at Erskine.
Trustees asked for transparency about contract differences and for access to the contract documents; staff confirmed all signed contracts were available in board Google folders and offered to make printed copies available on request.
Next steps include finalizing contract signatures, continuing the technical data migration, urbanity reviews for any site-specific provisions, and weekly updates to the board on transition metrics.
