Are Biden’s proposed charter school grant changes ‘common sense’ or an attack on choice?
North Carolina charter school supporters are fighting proposed changes that could make it harder for these non-traditional public schools to get federal grant money to start up and expand.
New grant rules proposed by the Biden Administration would require applicants to show that the number of charter schools “does not exceed the number of public schools needed to accommodate the demand in the community.” Other proposed changes to the federal Charter Schools Program (CSP) include no longer giving grants to charters run by for-profit companies.
Several Republican North Carolina federal and state officials have called the changes an attack on school choice.
“In addition to being overly prescriptive and overburdensome, the Department proposes foisting such prescriptions and burdens solely upon charter schools which can only be viewed as an attempt by this Administration to disadvantage charter schools over their traditional public school peers,” U.S. Senator Richard Burr wrote in a joint letter to the U.S. Department of Education with five other GOP senators.
“Destroying future charter schools harms school choice for parents and students during a time when school choice is more important than ever.”
‘Common sense regulations’
But Heather Koons, a spokeswoman for Public Schools First NC, says the changes are “common sense regulations.”
“They’re just putting some very simple guardrails in place so there’s no fraud and that the schools are providing a high-quality education and not contributing to resegregation,” Koons said in an interview.
The U.S. Department of Education is taking comments through Monday on the proposed grant rule changes.
Charter schools are taxpayer-funded schools that are exempt from some of the rules that traditional public schools must follow, such as having 100% licensed teachers and participating in the National School Lunch program.
There are more than 200 charter schools in North Carolina. More than 60 charter schools have received a share of the $36.6 million in CSP grant funds given to the state.
Earlier this month, the State Board of Education approved five new charter schools to open in 2023. But some state board members and N.C. Charter Schools Advisory Board members raised concerns that parts of the state are oversaturated with charter schools.
‘Backdoor attempt to limit choice’
Under the proposed rule changes, applicants must provide an analysis showing there’s “sufficient demand for the proposed project.” In addition to showing that the grant doesn’t exceed the number of public schools needed in an area, other parts of the analysis would include:
▪ Descriptions of the community support and unmet demand for the charter school, including any over-enrollment of existing public schools.
▪ How the applicant plans to establish and maintain racially and socio-economically diverse student and staff populations.
▪ A description of how the applicant won’t negatively impact any desegregation efforts in the school districts they’ll draw students from.
“This new requirement would limit the very definition of parental choice, boiling a complex, nuanced, and personal family decision that accounts for school performance, special programs, proximity, cultural affirmation, and many other factors, to one simply based on over-crowding,” State Superintendent Catherine Truitt wrote in her feedback on the changes.
“Demand for charter schools is about much more than simply too few seats at traditional public schools.”
The change “represents a backdoor attempt to limit choice for parents and students,” U.S. Rep. Ted Budd wrote in a letter to U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona.
“These sorts of burdensome requirements would never be applied to school systems beholden to powerful teachers unions that organize against the interests of families and students,” Budd added.
But Koons said the regulations would help protect against charter schools serving as vehicles for white flight in a community.
Cutting off grants to for-profit charters
The rule changes address a concern raised by charter school critics that taxpayer money is going into the hands of for-profit companies.
Charter schools in North Carolina are required to be run by local, non-profit boards. But some charter schools contract with for-profit companies that run all the day-to-day operations. Those schools have been getting CSP grants.
But under the proposed new rules, applicants couldn’t get grant money if they “relinquish full or substantial control of the charter school” to a for-profit group. The applicant could still contract with a for-profit provider for individual specific services.
Koons said the rules would prevent situations such as at Torchlight Academy in Raleigh, which received a $500,000 CSP grant. The state board recently voted to close Torchlight, citing conflict of interest concerns with the for-profit management company that until recently had run the school.
“These rules will make a tremendous difference in stopping the spread of charters run for profit and ensuring that charters that increase segregation and cause public school closures will not be funded,” according to an online petition created by the Network for Public Education.
The Network for Public Education has been critical of how the grant money has been awarded to charter schools in North Carolina and across the nation.
Collaborating with school districts
Some North Carolina school districts have had an adversarial relationship with charter schools, asking state leaders to turn down new applicants.
Under the proposed rule changes, grant priority would be given to applicants who collaborate with school districts. Some examples cited in the rules include sharing curriculum resources and instructional materials, sharing professional development training and sharing transportation.
Applicants who use this application priority would need to provide a letter from each partnering traditional public school.
But Truitt, the state superintendent, said that the rule change would allow school districts who are unfavorable to charter schools to punish them by refusing to cooperate.
“State and local authorizers are best positioned to assess community impact through a rigorous authorizing process, and a charter school’s access to critical funding sources should not be impeded by unresponsive and uncooperative local districts,” Truitt wrote to the Education Department.
Have your say
The U.S. Department of Education will accept public comments on the proposed rules changes for the Charter Schools Program grants until Monday. Go to https://bit.ly/37QdTNH to submit a comment. Though the website lists April 13 as the comment deadline, it was extended to April 18.
This story was originally published April 14, 2022 at 4:09 PM with the headline "Are Biden’s proposed charter school grant changes ‘common sense’ or an attack on choice?."
