Charter school turmoil in Rock Hill as account reportedly drained, most of board quits
A York County charter school that had a parent walkout last year now will be operated by its South Carolina charter sponsor after the management organization that had been running Ascent Classical Academy of Fort Mill pulled out this week. The school’s account was drained, according to officials and organizational public statements.
The money was taken out of its bank accounts and all but one of the school’s governing board members resigned, according to a statement from Ascent Classical Academy of Fort Mill on its website.
The Charter Institute at Erskine will take over the operational role at the school, according to institute spokesperson Ashley Epperson and state officials.
The Charter Institute at Erskine is the authorizer, or sponsor, for the school, which is registered with the S.C. Department of Education, state documents show. The Columbia-based institute has more than 25 sponsored schools statewide, but Ascent is the only one in York County, records show.
The Institute will temporarily assist with operations until a board is fully in place to manage the school and the school is autonomously operational, Epperson said in an email to The Herald Thursday afternoon.
“The Charter Institute at Erskine is committed to working in partnership with the leadership and community at ACA Fort Mill to ensure their students continue to receive a distraction-free, high-quality education,” Epperson said in the email.
The school, established a couple years ago in Rock Hill, claimed to be seeking at the time a long-term home in Fort Mill. It has around 150 students and 20 teachers and staff, officials said.
The changes come after an uproar last October at the school over staffing and programs that pushed some parents and students to protest.
The school staff, including teachers, received termination letters from ACA, but the administration and staff will be in the building on Monday, Epperson said. She said the institute is “working to ensure these teachers are paid for their labor and will meet with staff in the coming days to address their concerns and outline next steps.”
The long-term future of the school remains unclear. The Post and Courier in Charleston first reported about the incident earlier this week.
The turmoil in recent days sent families scrambling to legislators for answers about the rest of the academic year because of the sudden ACA pullout and allegations of drained bank accounts and board resignations.
S.C. Rep Shannon Erickson, R-Beaufort and chair of the House education committee, told The Herald that S.C. Superintendent of Education Ellen Weaver assured her and S.C. Rep. David Martin, R-Fort Mill, that the institute will handle the school operations when students return Monday from spring break.
Operator ACA stops management this week
ACA issued a public statement this week on its website.
In it, ACA said it served as the contracted operator of the school, responsible for day-to-day operations, staffing, and financial management. The school is governed by an independent board, which holds the charter and is authorized by the Charter Institute at Erskine, according to ACA.
Under that agreement, ACA was responsible for managing the school’s accounts and financial operations, while the governing board exercised oversight through formal board action.
ACA said in late March it formally notified the governing board that it would withdraw previously deferred management fees that remained in the school’s accounts. These funds were earned by ACA and had been intentionally left in place to support the school’s cash flow in an effort to aid the school, with prior notice to the governing board of their planned withdrawal, according to ACA.
ACA terminated its service provider agreement and management and operation of the school on Monday after “a member of the governing board subsequently removed all funds from the school’s bank accounts without board approval” on April 2, the statement said.
ACA said that the removal of the money “eliminated the school’s operating capital and made it impossible for ACA to meet essential obligations, including payroll and required expenditures.”
It happened before a planned board meeting about governance of the school but “multiple board members resigned, leaving the board unable to function. “
“The combination of these actions — including the removal of funds without board approval and the resulting breakdown in governance — constituted a violation of the Service Provider Agreement and made it no longer possible for ACA to continue operating the school. Without access to operating funds and with no functioning governing board, ACA could not responsibly or legally continue operations.”
When reached by email Thursday afternoon, ACA referenced the statement made earlier in the week about the school on its website.
ACA, of Fort Mill, also posted the full statement on its official Facebook page.
“Alarmed” about alleged removal of public money
Erickson and Martin have asked Gov. Henry McMaster to have the state Inspector General investigate the school over allegations about the money being removed from school accounts. They said in a statement they are both “alarmed” by the public statement from ACA about the alleged removal of the money from school accounts.
“A unilateral removal of all operating funds from a publicly funded school account, without board approval, raises obvious questions regarding authority, internal controls, fiduciary obligations, compliance with applicable law, and whether any public funds were improperly diverted, withheld, or otherwise placed at risk,” the statement from Erickson and Martin states.
Martin said parents, students and taxpayers deserve “full transparency and accountability.”
Jenny Desch, a Democrat running in November for the seat Martin holds, posted on social media Wednesday, “The leadership of Ascent Classical Academy has completely collapsed.”
Desch said she has concerns about the money. “Fort Mill families and South Carolina taxpayers fund these charter schools,” she said in the post.
