New charter schools could open in Garner and Monroe. Would they promote segregation?
A state advisory board narrowly recommended Tuesday approving a charter school in Garner that the Wake County school system says would increase segregation in surrounding schools.
The N.C. Charter Schools Advisory Board (CSAB) voted 5-4 to recommend that American Leadership Academy be allowed to open in Garner in 2024. The advisory board also voted 7-2 on Tuesday to recommended approving an American Leadership Academy school that wants to open in Monroe in Union County in 2023.
“They wouldn’t be able to expand if there wasn’t a great demand for charter schools, which there is,” said CSAB member Terry Stoops. “They’re simply meeting what the demand is in areas that I think are really ripe for charter schools.”
The recommendation came despite a letter from the Wake County school system saying it was opposing the charter school in Garner “in the strongest possible terms.”
“This proposed charter would harm our school district, particularly our Garner schools,” Wake Superintendent Cathy Moore and school board chairwoman Lindsay Mahaffey wrote in their joint letter to the advisory board.
“Rather than offering anything new or innovative, this school would promote white flight from traditional public schools, sowing division in the Garner community and siphoning resources from students who need it the most.”
American Leadership Academy wants to open a 2,050-student, K-12 school in Garner and a 1,100-student, K-8 school in Monroe. Unlike with Wake County, the Union County school system isn’t opposing the new charter in its district.
The final decision rests with the State Board of Education. The state board generally goes along with the advisory board’s recommendations but has rejected applications that have a split vote.
Charter operator expands in NC
Charter schools are taxpayer-funded schools that are exempt from some of the rules that traditional public schools must follow. There are more than 200 charter schools open statewide this year.
The new schools are the latest expansion effort into North Carolina by Glenn Way, a charter school operator. Way has made millions of dollars building, selling and leasing properties to the schools he runs in Arizona, The Arizona Republic has reported.
Way founded American Leadership Academy and Charter One, the company that manages American Leadership Academy schools.
Two Charter One schools opened this year in North Carolina: American Leadership Academy in Smithfield and Wake Preparatory Academy in Franklin County. Bonnie Cone Leadership Academy will open in Mecklenburg County in 2023.
Wake Preparatory Academy’s opening has drawn complaints from some parents and local businesses because of the daily traffic congestion it is creating on Capital Boulevard.
Expanding too fast?
Much of the advisory board’s debate on Tuesday was over whether Charter One was expanding too rapidly.
“I just feel like Charter One is going really, really fast before we know how Charter One is going to function in North Carolina,” said CSAB chairwoman Cheryl Turner, who voted for the Monroe school but against the Garner application.
Local representatives for the two proposed charter schools said it’s only through Charter One’s help that they’ll be able to open on time. That point was echoed by several CSAB members. .
“With the support of an EM0 (education management organization) that’s going to invest tens of millions, or even $100 million into these schools, I feel like the supports and the people behind it are there to make sure these schools are going to be a success,” Stoops said.
“This seems to me a natural fit for North Carolina to have Charter One schools. I think they’ll be a great benefit to the areas which they’ll be located.”
But Eric Sanchez, a CSAB member who voted against both schools, said that so far they only have “mixed” test results from three of Charter One’s North Carolina schools because the other schools are new.
“In our state, I’m not hearing the credible argument yet that there are tangible results,” Sanchez said.
But CSAB vice chairman Bruce Friend said the poor academic scores for the public schools in Garner point to the need to grant approval. Friend said he has confidence in both the local board for the two schools and Charter One.
“Charter One has more boots on the ground in North Carolina to get those schools up and running than any other EMO that’s in the state,” Friend said.
Not swayed by Wake
The advisory board placed less stock in the complaints raised by the Wake County school system. There are 26 charter schools open in Wake County, but none in Garner.
In the letter, the school district said the new Garner school would be virtually identical to an American Leadership Academy school in Wilmington that is 87% white and 16% economically disadvantaged students.
All but two Garner schools are majority non-white and all but one school is well above 16% economically disadvantaged. The district discounted American Leadership Academy’s plans to offer a weighted lottery that would give selection priority to disadvantaged students.
“Bottom line: this proposed charter undoubtedly would exacerbate economic disparities in Garner schools, and should be rejected on those grounds alone,” according to the district’s letter.
Mitchell Schwab, the chairman of the board for the proposed school, called Wake’s letter “a very political impact statement.”
“We don’t anticipate contributing to segregation in any way,” Schwab told the advisory board.
CSAB members sided with the school, saying Wake’s letter wasn’t credible and was designed to limit competition. CSAB member Bartley Danielsen said that the district didn’t provide persuasive evidence.
“They haven’t provided any evidence that Blacks in Garner are less desiring of charter schools than whites would be, although they seem to be concerned about what the enrollment pattern would be at the school,” Danielsen said. “We would not accept these sorts of arguments that they made as persuasive if they were made by the applicant.”
This story was originally published September 13, 2022 at 2:52 PM with the headline "New charter schools could open in Garner and Monroe. Would they promote segregation?."
