National Charter Schools Week, May 3-9

In recognition of National Charter School Week, we thought it would be appropriate to post a brief assessment of the landscape for charter schools, both statewide and nationally.

North Carolina families currently have a limited form of parental school choice in the form of public charter schools.   Currently, there are 98 charter schools operating in 48 counties, with a statewide cap of 100.

In 2008, the bipartisan NC Blue Ribbon Commission on Charter Schools recommended increasing the cap by 6 new charters per year and exempting high performing charter schools and each county’s first charter school from the cap.  Since those recommendations were made, the movement has made strides nationally by winning the support of the Obama administration.  To date, however, the only increase for charter schools has been in the form of demand.

In North Carolina, bipartisan-sponsored legislation has been proposed that would modify charter school law to raise the cap from 100 to 106.  It also would create more stringent evaluation measures of charter schools. 

You may recall that PEFNC Board Member John Bryson recently weighed-in on the issue of fairness in charter school accountability.  Although quality and accountability are paramount to a sound educational system, there is a fine line between improving evaluation measures and discouraging innovative educational approaches for at-risk children—the children most in need of help.

For the next few days, we’ll be spotlighting charter schools and charter school issues a little more than usual.  In the meantime, feel free to recognize a charter school in your area by leaving a comment below.