NC says no to expanding virtual charter schools as COVID-19 increases demand
The North Carolina State Board of Education rejected a plan Friday to let the two virtual charter schools add up to 3,800 more students this school year, as thousands of families seek access due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Several state board members, including Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, said a one-year, pandemic-related enrollment cap exemption should be offered for the online charter schools to give families more choices. But the majority of board members voted against the proposal, citing the low performance of the two schools and the fact that it would take money away from school districts.
“We as a board are responsible for all of the students across the state,” said state board member Jill Camnitz. “I want to be sure that in order to provide some options for some students who don’t have them right now that we make sure we don’t send negative ripples all the way across the state and end up affecting a large number of students negatively by trying to help the students that we’re talking about.”
The 7-5 vote went largely along partisan lines. The board members appointed by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper voted against the expansion. They were joined by board chairman Eric Davis, who was appointed by former Republican Gov. Pat McCroy.
But McCrory’s other appointees voted to let the schools add more students. They were joined by GOP State Treasurer Dale Folwell and Forest, a Republican who is running against Cooper for governor this fall.
“There’s thousands of parents of students out there just looking for an option in the midst of an emergency,” Forest said. “I think as a board we’ve been doing this for months. We’ve been trying to find options for parents and I’m not sure why this one is so controversial.”
Both N.C. Cyber Academy and N.C. Virtual Academy opened in 2015 under a pilot program mandated by the Republican-led General Assembly. The schools were labeled as low-performing by the state for their first four years. The schools won’t be graded this year because state exams were waived due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Demand high for virtual programs in state
Due to the pandemic, school districts across the state are setting up virtual programs to accommodate families who don’t feel comfortable with returning to campus before a vaccine is developed. In Wake County, 82,628 students signed up for the district’s Virtual Academy program, more than half of Wake’s enrollment.
Interest has also soared for the two virtual charter schools, which have 9,464 students on their waiting lists. A total of 5,045 students had attended them last school year.
The virtual charter schools need state board approval to add more students this year. The issue was referred to the N.C Charter Schools Advisory Board, which on Wednesday recommended allowing up to 2,800 more students at the Virtual Academy and up to 1,000 more students at the Cyber Academy.
Forest modified the recommendation Friday to say that selection priority should be given to students who don’t have access to a full-time virtual school option or who don’t have a computer or Internet access at home. He also would have exempted these new students when determining the performance grades for the two virtual schools.
Performance of virtual charters questioned
The poor performance of the virtual charters schools was an issue for the board majority. They’ve received “D” grades from the state and their students haven’t met academic growth targets since opening.
“Performance is an issue,” Davis, the board chairman, said at last week’s initial discussion of the expansion. “It’s one thing to have choice, but we’ve got make sure that we’re providing quality choice.”
But Forest said that the virtual charters have a “proven model” compared to school districts and brick-and-mortar charter schools establishing virtual programs for the first time.
“I know people complain about their ‘D’ school rating,” Forest said. “We can talk about that probably all day long.
“We have multiple ‘F’ schools that are offering virtual academies for this time period and we’re not spending a lot of time talking about that either. And they’re going to try to get up and get running and we’re okay with that.”
This story was originally published August 14, 2020 at 1:22 PM with the headline "NC says no to expanding virtual charter schools as COVID-19 increases demand."
