Charter Schools

In order to win the global competition for new jobs and industries, we must win the global competition to educate our children. At their best, charter schools provide us with an opportunity to meet this challenge and produce the next generation of great American leaders.   Presidential Proclamation National Charter Schools Week President Barack Obama April 29, 2011

What are public charter schools?
Charter schools are public, non-religious, tuition-free schools that are based on a performance contract with an authorizer. Public charter schools have operational and educational autonomy to implement an innovative educational program in return for accountability in the form of student outcomes. Unlike other public schools, charter schools can be closed based on their academic or operational performance.

As of July 2011, there were 100 public charter schools serving over 36,000 students in North Carolina.

Who are charter schools serving?
Per North Carolina law, public charter schools are open to any child in North Carolina. These schools have open enrollment with no discrimination, no religious associations and no tuition. The only requirement to get into a charter school is the school's availability in the requested grade, due to a cap on charter school student-body growth in the current charter law.

Because charter schools have open enrollment with no restrictions, data from the Department of Public Instruction indicates that charter schools are generally serving the same student demographics as traditional public schools.

Trends in charter school performance
Recent data from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (DPI) and independent reports indicate that charter school performance is on an upward trend. For the first time in five years, none of North Carolina’s public charter schools are labeled as “low performing,” the lowest categorization for a public school in North Carolina.

Also, according to DPI, 86 public charter schools out of the 98 open last year (88%) made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) in the 2009-2010 academic year, with 13 schools rated as a “School of Distinction” or higher. Only 57% of traditional public schools made AYP, according to the Department of Public Instruction.

Additionally, a report from the Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) at Stanford University concluded, “that reading gains were significantly higher” in North Carolina’s charter school students than in their traditional public school peers.

Funding disparities
The most recent nationwide district-charter school finance comparison study was released by Ball State University in 2010. Using 2006-07 data, researchers found that the district to charter disparity in North Carolina was at least $913 – meaning on average, district schools had $913 more in available revenue than charter schools per pupil. While at first glance $913 may not seem like much, but if one multiplies that figure by 500 students, that figure quickly moves to over $456,500! This statewide disparity had increased 33% from the previous study.

Senate Bill 8
On June 17, 2011, North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue signed Senate Bill 8 into law. Along with eliminating the state's charter school cap, the measure:                                                                                              

 - Increases charter enrollment caps from 10 percent to 20 percent: This means existing charters, as well as new ones, can admit more students. Over 30,000 families are on charter waiting lists across the state.

 - Provides fairer standards for improving charter school performance: If a charter is deemed inadequate within its first five years, it will adhere to a strategic plan, approved by the State Board of Education, to improve student performance. Charters are deemed inadequate if there's no growth in student performance and its annual performance composites are below 60 percent in any two years of a three year period.

- The State Board of Education has to report on the charters they approve or reject: This increases transparence regarding decisions made whether to approve or deny a charter.                                                          

- Allows the State Board of Education to create a public charter school advisory committee: Charters will now have a voice regarding decisions affecting them. 

Accountability
Charter school advocates long have supported high accountability and performance standards. But those standards should not hinder the innovative ability of charter schools to offer a safe, structured learning environment for academically and/or economically disadvantaged students.

More importantly, charters are accountable to the families they serve because they are schools of choice.  And choice is the ultimate accountability measure.