Charter Cap Slows N.C.'s Race
Winners of Phase 1 of the federal “Race to the Top” grant were announced this week, and North Carolina was not among them. The state was selected earlier this month as one of 16 finalists for approximately $400 million in federal money after submitting its application in January. Only two states, Delaware and Tennessee, were awarded first round funding.
There was significant apprehension in North Carolina about the state’s chances of receiving funding. PEFNC and other charter school advocates made the argument in January that North Carolina’s arbitrary cap of 100 charter schools might hamper the state’s application. That, indeed, turned out to be the case.
All applications were scored on a 500 point scale, 40 of which were directly tied to "successful conditions for high-performing charter schools." North Carolina’s application only received 23.4 out of the possible 40 points in this section.
On the state’s application review sheets, one federal reviewer made the comment, “A charter cap of 100 is in place so only 5 schools can be added. It is evident that this is too limited a cap to provide enough charters in such a large state.”
According to the Associated Press, the only other finalist to score lower in the “charter school” section of the application was Kentucky, a state that doesn’t even have charter schools. Meanwhile, the two winners, Delaware and Tennessee, scored 31 and 30 in the charter category, respectively. Comparing these scores to ours, North Carolina fell only 30 points shy of second place. That’s a mere 30 points away from $400 million for a state that is struggling with lost revenue and increased unemployment.
Fortunately, there will be a second round of the Race to the Top competition. Applications for Phase 2 are due on June 1. That leaves time for state lawmakers to roll up their shirtsleeves during the upcoming legislative session and give North Carolina a more competitive edge.
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