May 2009

NC Court Denies Parental Rights in Year-Round Case

The North Carolina Supreme Court has upheld a ruling that allows the Wake County Public School System to assign children to year-round schools without the permission of their parents.

Submitted by Anonymous on May 1, 2009 - 12:15pm

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.

Submitted by Anonymous on May 4, 2009 - 3:26pm

National Poll Reveals Broad Support for Lifting Charter School Caps

A recent national opinion poll shows that 74% of voters believe that states should lift the limits restricting the growth of public charter schools.

Submitted by Anonymous on May 7, 2009 - 4:05pm

Parental School Choice for Social Justice

Last week PEFNC was featured in The Winston-Salem Journal in a guest column titled "School choice movement can be tool for social justice."

Submitted by Anonymous on May 11, 2009 - 8:57am

Free Private Schooling for Low-Income Students in Durham

In 1995, the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise at UNC-Chapel Hill partnered with Union Baptist Church in Durham to launch The Durham Scholars Program, an initiative aimed at improving academic performance among low-income and minority children in some of Durham's poorest and most dangerous neighborhoods.

Submitted by Anonymous on May 14, 2009 - 9:53am

NC House Approves Bill to Increase Charter School Cap

Last week we wrote about bipartisan-sponsored legislation that would modify North Carolina's charter school law to raise the cap from 100 to 106. The bill also would give preference to charter school applications in school districts where no such schools currently operate and create more stringent evaluation measures of charter schools.

Submitted by Anonymous on May 14, 2009 - 10:00am

A dropout by any other name

With the 12th worst dropout rate in the nation, North Carolina needs to find answers to the dropout crisis that costs our state $169 million each year.

Submitted by Anonymous on May 20, 2009 - 3:24pm

Home Schooling on the Rise

The U.S. Education Department has released figures indicating that home schooling is on the rise across America. USA Today reports:

"As of the spring of 2007, an estimated 1.5 million, or 2.9% of all school-age children in the USA, were homeschooled, up from 850,000 (or 1.7%) in 1999.

Submitted by Anonymous on May 28, 2009 - 4:30pm

Data: Academic Genocide in NC Schools

In March, Judge Howard Manning announced that the state of Halifax County schools was akin to academic genocide. While the state's focus turned to solutions for Halifax, many more North Carolina school districts continued to quietly fail their students.

Submitted by Amber Gorski on May 14, 2009 - 11:00pm