Charter Schools

[Charter schools] are public schools founded by parents, teachers, and civic or community organizations with broad leeway to innovate – schools I supported as a state legislator and a United States senator. But right now, there are many caps on how many charter schools are allowed in some states, no matter how well they're preparing our students. That isn't good for our children, our economy, or our country. President Barack Obama March 10, 2009

North Carolina families currently have a limited form of public school choice in the form of public charter schools.

Public charter schools are innovative, outcome-based public schools that provide parents a choice in the education of their children within the public school system. Like traditional public schools, charter schools are funded by the government and must adhere to approved curriculum standards and take all state mandated tests. Enrollment is tuition-free, nondiscriminatory, and dependent upon available space at the requested school and grade level.

In North Carolina, public charter schools are in high demand because of their excellent reputation for success. Unfortunately, they face considerable challenges.

Putting a Cap on Innovation
Despite waiting lists of more than 16,000 students, public charter schools in North Carolina are currently capped at 100. In a state-by-state review of charter laws, The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools ranked North Carolina 32nd of 40 states, citing the state's arbitrary cap as one of the main restrictive issues.

Performance Double Standard
A 2009 policy by the State Board of Education would revoke the charter of any public charter school that does not meet or exceed expected growth and has fewer than 60% of its students at or above grade level for two of three consecutive school years.

Using 2008-2009 test scores, the mandate would place an estimated 7,700 students in danger of being forced to reenter traditional public schools--even though many traditional public schools perform worse than the charters being targeted for revocation.

In fact, according to a report, districts across North Carolina would be forced to close more than 150 traditional public schools if all public schools were held accountable to the charter performance standard.

Charters Serving Minority Populations
Alarmingly, public charter schools serving high densities of minority students are especially vulnerable under the performance guidelines. Of the 88 North Carolina charter schools serving 25% or 50% and higher minority populations, the disadvantages of the policy are clear:

Accountability
Advocates of public charter schools long have supported high accountability and performance standards. But those standards should not hinder the innovative ability of charter schools to serve academically and/or economically disadvantaged students. Such schools often provide safer, more structured and more nurturing environments than traditional settings, the results of which cannot be measured through test scores alone.

Parents are the ones who choose whether to enroll their students in a charter school in the first place. And parental school choice is the ultimate accountability measure.