Staff Writer

The opening of the Jonesville-Lockhart Charter School has been delayed until 2009 while the school's governing board seeks new financing for construction.

The board voted unanimously Thursday to ask the State Public Charter School District to authorize the school to open in 2009 instead of 2008 due to facilities financing issues. The school was originally scheduled to open in August.

Though charter schools receive state and federal funding for operations based on student enrollment, the schools must obtain funds for facilities construction from other sources. Until recently, Oak Capital was working to secure financing to purchase the land and build the school which was originally scheduled to open in August.

Vice chairman Mark Sanders said financing fell through due to a combination of the sub-prime mortgage crisis and what amounted to an act of financial sabotage. He said he was told that someone employed at the financial institution Oak Capital was dealing with was opposed to the charter school and delayed approval of the loan. He declined to name this person, adding that he has never spoken with them and does not know all the specifics of what transpired.

“The sub-prime banking situation has affected Wall Street to Main Street USA,” he said. “The school was told Oak Capital had negotiated its finances with BB&T of North Carolina. An official at that bank realized this was a project in South Carolina and moved the venue across the state line to an affiliate here. The process of obtaining the loan was continued in South Carolina.

“With such a tight schedule for a 2008 opening, timing was critical,” he said. “Unknown to the school, a Union High graduate was in charge of reviewing the loan in South Carolina. This process took additional time, finally resulting in the loan failing to happen. We have been told that person is no longer employed with BB&T. We do not know the specifics of his departure from the bank. The documents with the bank are under review and we do not know the results.”

Sanders said the board learned of this on Feb. 23 and immediately started working to secure funding from another source. He said the board learned April 3 that it would not be able to do so in time for a 2008 opening. Though it ran out of time, the board has not run out of parties interested in providing funding for the school for a 2009 opening, Sanders said.

“The second lender has since offered to finance the facilities,” he said. “Other lenders heard of our need and have expressed an interest as well. We will study each possibility.”

Sanders added that had the expected funding come through as originally planned, the school's buildings would have been in place and the school would have opened on schedule. Plans called for the school to have initially been composed of temporary structures housing core facilities such as classrooms. The campus would have been designed to leave room for expansion and replace the temporary structures with permanent ones. The construction and eventual expansion of the campus would take place in phases depending on the number of students and the ability of the school to grow its financial resources.

Though Oak Capital was the school's original developer and financial backer, Sanders said it is no longer involved with the project. He said that Oak Capital wanted a 2008 opening and that involvement with the 2009 schedule would complicate its efforts on behalf of another charter school project it is involved in.

In January, the board took out a 90-day option - with a 30-day extension if needed - on a 60-acre site at the corner of the Kelly Road and S.C. 9 near Kelly One Stop. Chairman Shirley Cromer said Thursday that the owner of the property has agreed to extend the board's option until June 3. She and Sanders said they believe that by that time the board will have secured new financing and be able to proceed with the purchase of the property and construction of the school.

Enrollment

The board also voted unanimously to open enrollment for 2009.

Mrs. Cromer said 597 students were enrolled for the 2008 school year. She said the board will keep those enrollment forms on file and notify those parents of those students of the need to fill out an addendum to enroll their children for the 2009 school year.

The addendum, which Mrs. Cromer said will be much shorter than the original six-page enrollment form, will be mailed to those parents along with the letter notifying them of the need to enroll their children for 2009. She said that when returned, the addendum will be added to the original enrollment form.

The board will set the date for enrollment process after consulting with the State Public Charter School District.

Mrs. Cromer pointed out that the delay could be beneficial as it allows the board more time to plan and organize the school.

“We now have some time that we can be a little more choosy,” she said. “We're going to have a little more time to get things accomplished rather than not be able to have options.”

A public charter school is a public school financed through the S.C. Public Charter School District. It is tuition-free and governed by a board elected by the parents and staff.