Our Charter / S.C. Charter School District

BPS Charter Amendments

Bridges Preparatory School Charter

Bylaws

What is a Charter?

• A Charter is the non-profit corporation’s founding document, which lays out the mission and all specifics about the school, from curriculum to operations
• The charter document is the CONTRACT between the school and its sponsoring district, which describes the school’s performance goals and commitments that must be met in order to receive contract renewal
• A charter school is a free and zone-free public school that receives public money from its sponsoring district
• Applications for charter schools must be approved by the South Carolina Department of Education and then either the County or State District
• All charter schools are non-profit
• Charters allow for innovative curriculum and classroom instruction
• They are exempt from certain, but not all, traditional public school requirements
• A group of citizens can submit and get approval of a charter to run an independent public school
• Charter schools are open to the public and may be attended by choice wherever in the district that a child resides
• Each child must fill out an application for a charter school
• Typically charters are smaller schools with fewer students per classroom than traditional public schools, but often also receive less funding (no transportation or facilities monies are assigned)
• Charter schools are held accountable by their school’s test scores and can be closed for low academic performance, among other reasons
• Charter Schools allow parents to become intricately involved in their child’s education
• Read more about the SC charter schools code of law