Last Thursday, the State Board of Education voted 8-3 to approve a new policy that threatens funding for new charter schools. This policy, CHTR-022, requires the Charter Schools Review Board to present all approved applications, renewals, and material revisions to the State Board for funding allocation before any state or federal funds can be disbursed, to ensure schools are in compliance. It comes in response to Session Law 2023-110 converting the Charter Schools Advisory Board into the Charter Schools Review Board, with authority to approve and renew charters.
State Treasurer Dale Folwell, Dr. Olivia Oxendine, and Lt. Governor Mark Robinson voted against the policy. State Superintendent Catherine Truitt, a non-voting member of SBE, also voiced concerns.
Coalition response to the State Board’s policy
The Coalition issued a press release and statement in response to the State Board’s policy, noting that it violates state law and threatens to withhold funds from new public charter schools. In the release, Coalition Executive Director Lindalyn Kakadelis said:
North Carolina charter schools are enormously popular with families, as evidenced by the 77,000 names on charter school waitlists. The legislature streamlined the approval process for new public charter schools to meet this demand. The State Board of Education is wrong to play these bureaucratic power games when parents just want options in their public schooling.
The Coalition also sent a letter to SBE members outlining concerns about the policy.
Read more
- See coverage about the policy from US News & World Report, News & Observer, WUNC, Carolina Journal, Spectrum News, North State Journal, and WCNC.
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