The NC Legislature is currently on course to pass a bill (SB 8) which would lift the statewide cap on charter schools. Unfortunately, the bill as written will fund charter schools at the expense of already strapped public schools, while not ensuring that charters are either accountable to taxpayers or accessible to all of North Carolina’s children. Current issues with the bill include:

1.       Does not require that charter schools provide transportation and free/reduced lunch facilities, so that low income children can attend. As it stands, these children are de facto excluded from charter schools, potentially creating a state funded school system segregated by socioeconomic status.

2.       Removes the minimum number of students which must be served by a charter school (the minimum was formerly set at 65). This provision removes funding from the already struggling public school system by allowing homeschooling parents to establish “charter” schools in order to teach their own children.

3.       Removes charter schools from the jurisdiction of the State Board of Education, and creates an independent Charter Commission, which would oversee charter schools and grant charters. The Charter Commission which this bill creates is composed almost entirely of charter school parents and faculty. There is little incentive for the new Commission to provide rigorous oversight for new charter schools, or to collaborate with the State Board of Education to determine whether new charters are necessary or can be supported in particular districts.

4.       Does not contain a mechanism to ensure that when a student is “returned” to the public school system, the funding returns with the student, or that the test scores of these students count against the returning school for any period of time. The bill continues to incentivize charter schools to “push out” low scoring students during testing season, thus evading accountability and artificially raising their test scores in a way public schools cannot.

5.       Provides for capital funding of charter corporations by the state, although public schools currently have capital funding needs which are going unmet. The bill also requires public school districts to share program funds with charter schools, even when the charters do not participate in the programs for which the funds are intended (for example, free and reduced lunch funds), or when the programs are self-contained and funded by the public schools.

Tell Governor Purdue to veto this bill until it can be altered to equally serve all of North Carolina’s children.

PS Please only sign this petition if you are an NC voter. People from other states who want to help should forward the petition to any one from NC they know-or find out what the education landscape looks like in your own state. The more we all push back, the less chance the public school system has of being gutted.