North Carolina State Board of Education vies for control of purse strings after losing charter school approval power, as 77,000 students on charter waitlist

The North Carolina General Assembly recently stripped charter school approval powers away from the State Board of Education (SBE), which has now made a move to keep control of the funding.

The Legislature passed several hotly contested bills in August, including one that took power away from the SBE to approve or deny charter school applications. 

That power now rests with the Charter School Review Board, which was formerly only an advisory board. 

This policy change comes as parents across North Carolina are clamoring for spots in charter schools. 

“We know that there’s over 77,000 students on the waitlist to get into charter schools,” said Lindalyn Kakadelis, executive director of the North Carolina Coalition for Charter Schools. “Why the demand? I’m not really sure, except that I know that parents like options.” 

However, Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper didn’t support changing the review process. 

“Oversight of charter schools should be conducted by education experts not partisan politicians,” Cooper said after vetoing the proposal.  

The governor also opposes charter school expansion and school choice programs. 

However, the Assembly overrode the veto in August, along with several other vetoed bills pertaining to women’s sports, parental rights, and cross-sex treatments for minors. 

House Speaker Tim Moore described the mass override as “huge wins for North Carolina women, parents, and families.” 

But in an effort to maintain its power, the SBE passed a policy giving itself final approval of a charter school’s funding, even though the review board now gets to approve the application, WCNC reported. 

“They’ve decoupled approval from funding,” said Kakadelis. “That’s the first time that has happened. Whether that’s legal or not, I don’t know.” 

She also accused the boards of political jockeying, as the SBE has a strong Democrat influence, and the review board is more in line with Republicans. 

“Education should never be an ‘R and D’ sport,” added Kakadelis. “K-12 education should be for the child, not political parties.” 

State Superintendent Catherine Truitt doesn’t agree with the SBE’s decision. 

“I don’t see what a couple of bad actors have done should be a policy that jeopardizes essentially the ability of a charter school to open its doors to the families who’ve chosen to go there,” said Truitt. “The way the policy is written now, because it is so vague, would allow for this board [SBE] to vote not to open a charter school and not give a reason.”