Public Charter Schools

Aniekan Affiah, a fifth grader from Durham, pleaded with Gov. Beverly Perdue during a PEFNC press conference on June 7, 2011. Aniekan joined national, state and community leaders in urging the governor to remove North Carolina’s charter school cap.

Public Charter schools are independent, non-religious, tuition-free public schools with operational and educational autonomy in exchange for increased financial and academic accountability. Unlike traditional public schools, public charter schools can be closed if they do not meet academic or operational standards.

As of March 2012, there are 100 public charter schools with 25 approved to open for the 2013-14 school year. These schools are currently serving over 44,000 students in North Carolina. However, as families search for the best educational outlet in which to educate their child, nearly 30,000 students remain on public charter school waiting lists across the state, according to the state Department of Public Instruction (DPI).

PEFNC’s recent work to eliminate the cap on public charter schools:

With overwhelming legislative support on June 17, 2011, Gov. Beverly Perdue signed a measure removing the public charter school cap. Other provisions within the measure include:

• Increasing charter enrollment caps from 10 percent to 20 percent (Existing charters, as well as new ones, can admit more students)

Providing fairer standards for improving charter school performance (If a public charter is deemed inadequate within its first five years, it will adhere to a strategic plan, approved by the state Board of Education, to improve student performance. Public charters are deemed inadequate if there’s no growth in student performance and its annual performance figures are below 60 percent in any two of a three year period.)

• Reporting by the state Board of Education regarding the public charters approved or rejected (Increases transparency regarding decisions made whether to approve or deny a public charter)

• Allowing the state Board of Education to create a public charter school advisory committee (Public charters will now have a voice regarding decisions affecting them)

The state of charter schools in North Carolina

Below is a breakdown of the number of students on waiting lists by region (according to DPI):

Eastern (Fayetteville, Henderson, Kinston, Wilmington, etc.) 1,449 (23 schools)

Central (Durham, Greensboro, Raleigh, Winston-Salem, etc.) 11,713 (40 schools)

Western (Asheville, Charlotte, etc.) 14,924 (37 schools)

Across the country, public charter schools are finding innovative ways to teach students including:

- Unique curriculums

- Extended school days

- School cultures with high expectations for all students and adults

- More structured and disciplined learning environments

- Rewarding high-quality teachers with higher pay

- Parent contracts

Who are charter schools serving?

Per North Carolina law, public charter schools are open to any child in North Carolina. These schools have open enrollment with no discrimination, no religious associations and no tuition. An open lottery must be held if there are more applications than available seats in a requested grade.

Because public charter schools have open enrollment with no restrictions, data from the state Department of Public Instruction indicates that charter schools are generally serving the same student demographics as traditional public schools.

Trends in charter school performance

According to the state Department of Public Instruction, more than half of North Carolina public charter schools made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in the 2010-11 school year. Only 28 percent of traditional schools made AYP. Nearly a quarter of the state’s public charter schools were recognized as Honor Schools of Excellence, the highest designation a North Carolina public school can receive, compared to only eight percent of traditional schools.

Funding disparities

The most recent nationwide district-public charter school finance comparison study, released by Ball State University in 2010, found that the district to public charter funding disparity in North Carolina was at least $913 – meaning, on average, district schools had $913 more in available revenue than public charter schools per pupil. While $913 may not seem like much at first, if one multiplies that figure by 500 students, it quickly grows to over $456,500!

Leading Public Charter School Expert Helping PEFNC Provide New Opportunities for Charter Leaders

Christopher Gergen, founding executive director of Bull City Forward and Forward Ventures, began assisting Parents for Educational Freedom in North Carolina as a public charter school consultant in March 2012. Gergen is helping PEFNC enhance its public charter school work by assisting in the development of the organization’s role in North Carolina’s growing public charter landscape.

Among his many accomplishments, Gergen co-founded Smarthinking, an online tutoring provider serving over 200,000 students; is a founding board member of the E.L. Haynes Public Charter School in Washington, D.C. and was the vice president of new market development for K12 Inc., an online education curriculum provider. He has been instrumental in creating some of the most effective statewide charter school support organizations throughout the country.

North Carolina Public Charter School Advisory Council

The North Carolina Public Charter School Advisory Council was created as a result of legislation eliminating the state’s public charter school cap in 2011. The Council recommends policies to the state Board of Education regarding all aspects of public charter school operation, including timelines, standards and the approval of new public charter schools.

Council members were chosen from across the state by the governor and other legislative leaders. Kwan Graham, PEFNC’s Parent Liaison Initiative coordinator, is a Council member.

Public Charter School News and Resources

Learn more about public charter school policy on the national level by visiting the National Alliance for  Public Charter Schools here. The Alliance, whose mission is to lead public education to unprecedented levels of academic achievement for all students by fostering a strong charter sector, is a key resource to help you stay connected to public charter news and policy across the country.

The Alliance released a legislative activity update on national public charter school numbers in July 2012. See what progress has been made by clicking here.