Highly-paid principal of Midlands charter school has lucrative side job

Zak Koeske TNS/The State

The principal of a prominent Midlands charter school moonlights as a consultant for the taxpayer-funded authorizer responsible for monitoring his school’s academic performance, legal compliance and stewardship of public dollars, documents show.

Brian Newsome, the principal of Gray Collegiate Academy in West Columbia, has been paid at least $160,000 by the Charter Institute at Erskine to advise his charter school peers and guide new charter school development, according to invoices obtained by The State Media Co.

The consulting relationship, which started in 2021, raises two potential issues of concern, said Derek Black, a law professor at the University of South Carolina.

For one, said Black, an expert in education law and policy, charter school authorizers