The Approval Committee would act as the sponsor of the charter school and as the approving entity for that charter school. The Committee would consist of seven members, two of whom would be appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, two of whom would be appointed by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, and three of whom shall be appointed by the governor, one of whom shall be designated by the governor as chairman.

Why should the public care about this bill or, that matter, public charter schools? Why is it urgent that this bill be passed by the General Assembly this session? There are a number of facts that justify the urgent approval of Gov. Sanford's educational plan, part of which ensures public charter school approval without the entanglement of either a State Department of Education/State Board of Education run "advisory" committee or local school boards.

Fact 1: Despite the intent of the General Assembly last year to provide expeditious and equitable treatment of charter applications commencing July 1, 2002, the Department of Education informed the Charter School Advisory that it could not review any applications in time for the 2003-2004 school year. Furthermore, "regulations" were necessary through an extended review and approval process by the State Board of Education and then by the General Assembly. Sadly, the Advisory Committee has not met since September 2002.

Fact 2: Extensive Regulations are bogged down in the Senate, mainly because lobbying groups opposed to public school choice want to restore the right of local school districts to deny applications. Pressure is now being placed on legislators to restore the infamous "adverse impact" clause, which enabled school boards to deny charter applications on the spurious claim that charter schools are hurting other students in the school district, a smoke screen for per pupil funds following students to a charter school.

Fact 3: The strategy of charter school opponents is to do everything they can to encumber charter school approval and survival through regulations, bureaucracy, and an application form that exceeds the requirements of the law.

Fact 4: A new pattern of charter school approval and denial is emerging. Local School Boards (currently the only sponsoring authority) deny applications from authentic grassroots stakeholder groups and then subsequently apply for the Public Charter School Grant Program with their own similar or identical charter school application. Their venal behavior merely proves that controlling the chartering group and Federal Grant funds that follow are more important to school districts than supporting initiatives from independent teachers, parents, principals, community associations, and non-profit organizations.

Fact 5: The Governor's Education Task Force report and recommendations made it eminently clear that without expanded school options, public education will continue to be mired in failure and under-performance, regardless of available financial resources.

The report cited a public high school graduation rate of 52 percent, ranking us 50th in the nation, along with a growing disparity between Caucasian and African American achievement. Moreover, only 17 percent of high school graduates entering the state's technical colleges successfully receive a two-year degree, and only 8 percent of high school graduates receive a college degree in four years. The report also stated that "we have returned over one million dollars to the U.S. Department of Education because we have not successfully distributed the Federal Charter School Grant funds over the past three years, due to not proceeding in a progressive way to develop Charter Schools." Can you imagine that in these difficult economic times South Carolina gave educational dollars back to the Federal Government?

Fact 6: South Carolina's thirteen charter schools operate on average with 20 percent less per pupil funding than their district counterparts. Public Charter Schools, in fact do not "take money away" form traditional public schools. School districts would actually retain more funds per pupil if they would encourage charter schools.

The choice and accountability movement throughout the nation is helping to reinvent education, producing impressive gains at all grade levels and, especially, for narrowing the achievement gap between poor and middle income students. Charter schools are flourishing in states that implement multiple sponsoring jurisdictions and eliminate the obstacles that were meant to preserve the status quo at the expense of the children we should all serve.