The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) has been using a mathematical formula to determine the socio-economic status (SES) of students for several years. However, this formula has not been made public, leaving many parents and community members in the dark about how their child's SES is calculated.

Transparency is crucial in ensuring that all students are treated fairly and that resources are distributed equitably. Without access to the SES formula, it is impossible for parents and community members to understand how CMS is allocating resources and whether or not their child's needs are being met.

Recent CMS response to public records request (23-176) states "SES at the student level is calculated by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction". This seems to be inaccurate as SES is a local CMS metric assigned to individual students and aggregated at the school level to produce SES metrics for each school. NCDPI does not assign, calculate, or publish student or school SES metrics.

We ask the CMS board and the Superintendent to release just the SES mathematical formula even if the confidential data associated with this calculation cannot be released. 

This will improve our understanding and allow us all to work together towards creating a more equitable education system for all students in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.