Termination or transfer of charter

(A) A charter school may voluntarily terminate its charter and contract with the authorizer before the expiration of the ten-year term of the contract by a majority vote of the charter school board, which constitutes a dissolution event of the corporation and the charter school. (B) In order for a charter school to transfer its charter to another authorizer, its decision to do so must be voted upon during an open session of a public meeting of the charter school board in accordance with the South Carolina Freedom of Information Act and it must obtain the approval of its current authorizer and the proposed new authorizer pursuant to procedures in this section. (1) A charter school shall submit a written request to the current authorizer and the proposed receiving authorizer to transfer its charter to a different authorizer before September first. The request must include documentation of the charter school board's affirmative vote to initiate the transfer process. The transfer must be effective on July first of the following year. (2) The proposed new authorizer shall issue a written final decision approving or denying the request to transfer before October thirty-first. The request to transfer may be denied by the proposed new authorizer for any reason; however, if the proposed authorizer determines the charter school's request to transfer is, to avoid accountability, prohibited by law or untimely, then the transfer must be denied. A copy of the final decision must be served on the charter school applying to transfer, the current authorizer, and the Department of Education before November fifth. The decision of the proposed new authorizer to deny the request is not appealable. (3) If the proposed new authorizer approves the request to transfer, then the current authorizer shall issue a final decision approving or denying the request to transfer before December thirty-first. The authorizer must permit the charter school to submit materials or information to support its transfer request, all of which must be submitted at least five business days before the board meeting. A charter school who makes a written request at least five business days before the board meeting must be given an opportunity to appear and present information regarding their request. If an authorizer fails to comply with items (1) through (4), then the Department of Education may compel the authorizer to comply by withholding the authorizer's fees related to the charter school seeking to transfer until the authorizer complies. (4) Items (1) through (3) must be conducted in the year in which the request was submitted following proper notice, public discussion, and a vote by the board during a public open session meeting held in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act. (5) The current authorizer must deny a request to transfer to the proposed new authorizer if the current authorizer determines the charter school's request to transfer is to avoid accountability, prohibited by law, untimely, or other good cause to deny the transfer exists. (6) Good cause to deny the charter school's transfer request includes, but is not limited to: (a) violations of the charter, contract, or applicable law, that have not been resolved by the charter school; (b) receipt of the lowest performance level rating under the state or federal accountability system during the past two academic years by the charter school seeking to transfer; (c) more than one transfer request by the charter school within a ten-year period; or (d) the charter school has operated less than two years with the current authorizer. (7) The final decision of the current authorizer is appealable to the Administrative Law Court. (8) A charter school renewal application shall not be subject to the provisions of this section and is deemed not to be a transfer request.