Charter Schools

The Tipping Point: Arapahoe Charter, Pamlico Schools, And ‘Choice’ In Rural NC

Dave DeWitt — Fri, 24 May 2013 09:01:00 +0000

This is a story about choice. And it starts in the lunch line at Arapahoe Charter School in Pamlico County when students choose between pizza and french fries.

And while that choice may seem easy to make, the choice to offer it is a little more complicated.

Charter schools aren’t required to offer meals, even to kids who qualify for free or reduced-price lunches. But Arapahoe does – and sixty percent of the students here qualify.

Proposed Board Splits Charter Advocates

Dave DeWitt — Tue, 21 May 2013 09:26:00 +0000

Charter schools have been around in North Carolina for about a decade and a half, and for most of that time, the relationship between charters and traditional public schools has alternated between frosty and hostile.

Charter Board Debate Intensifies

Dave DeWitt — Mon, 06 May 2013 08:15:00 +0000

The State Senate is scheduled to debate a bill tomorrow that creates a separate board to oversee the growing number of charter schools in North Carolina.

Senate Bill 337 has gone through several revisions since it was introduced by Republican lawmakers two months ago. One of the provisions in an earlier bill, for example, removed the requirement that charter school teachers be college graduates. That requirement has since been re-instated.

Chapel Hill Charter School Runs Into More Problems

Dave DeWitt — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 20:10:35 +0000

A controversial charter school that was approved to open its doors in Chapel Hill this fall has hit a road block. The managing company that was supposed to run the day-to-day operations of the Howard and Lillian Lee Charter School has pulled out.

National Heritage Academies, Inc. runs more than 70 charter schools across the country, including six in North Carolina. The Lee School would have been number seven, but NHA has backed out of the project.

State School Board Gives Final Approval To New Charter Schools

Dave DeWitt — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 19:01:52 +0000

The State Board of Education has given final approval to 23 charter schools to open this fall.

Last year, 63 applicants began the process of applying to start a charter school, with an eye toward opening this fall. Twenty-five made it to this final round.

How Charter Schools Are Changing Public Education

Frank Stasio and Alex Granados — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 16:11:23 +0000

Seventy new charter schools have applied to become part of North Carolina’s growing population of alternative public schools. For the longest time, the number of charter schools in the state was capped at 100, but lawmakers changed that back in 2011.

New Charter Schools Approved

Dave DeWitt — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 17:33:00 +0000

Nine new charter schools have been approved by the State Board of Education. They were fast-tracked after the legislature eliminated the cap on charter schools last summer.

Dave DeWitt: All nine schools were eventually approved by the State Board of Education, after some discussion. Many of the questions raised came from State Treasurer Janet Cowell, who wondered, among other things, about the future bond ratings for school districts that lose students to charters.

But in the end, the separate votes on each school were mostly unanimous.

Lawmakers Lift Cap on Charter Schools

Jessica Jones — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 10:30:00 +0000

Lawmakers have overwhelmingly approved a measure that would lift the cap on charter schools in the state.