Tim Daniels has been named the new superintendent of the South Carolina Public Charter School District. Daniels was the executive director of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Charter Schools.

The Post and Courier reports:
The newly named leader of the South Carolina Public Charter School District hopes to expand the number of charter schools in the Palmetto State.

...

Daniels initially will see to in-house needs, such as hiring a curriculum specialist for the statewide district and developing an employee handbook. His main focus will be the daily operations of the district and encouraging and nurturing the boards of the district's charter schools, Seckinger said.

The state charter board has authorized six schools, five of which will open this coming year. Horizon Middle Academy, which planned to open this fall on Johns Island, delayed its start date until 2009. Two "bricks and mortar" schools will open in Clarendon and Abbeville counties, and three are statewide virtual charter schools.

Charter schools are publicly funded, but they seek to fulfill a more specific need than a general school, and are "chartered" for that purpose. Though they have existed for some time in South Carolina, the schools can be more easily formed in recent years. In 2006 new legislation allowed for the schools to start receiving more government money and no longer required that they be county sponsored.

But, like most school programing shifts, charter schools have had much criticism.