Proposed changes for charter schools will help NC’s traditional public schools

The U.S. Department of Education is proposing rule changes that would help ensure that charter schools do more of what they’re supposed to do – enhance public education overall.

The changes would ask charter schools seeking federal grants to show that the charter school will collaborate with a local traditional school or district in a way “beneficial to all partners in the collaboration and lead to increased educational opportunities and improved student outcomes” Another change would require that new or expanding charter schools seeking federal support demonstrate that they “do not exceed the number of public schools needed to accommodate the demand in the community.”

This is an overdue correction to a lack of local coordination. In 2011, the Republican-led legislature lifted the 100-school cap on charter schools. The schools are publicly funded but operated by private boards and exempt from some traditional public school requirements., such as providing school meals and bus service and having all of their teachers be licensed.

Many of these new charter schools have drifted from the original purpose of serving as laboratories of learning. At the same time, they have proliferated in some counties to the point of undermining the funding of the traditional public school system. More than a third of the state’s charters are located in three counties Mecklenburg (33), Wake (26) and Durham (14).

Consider the impact of charter schools on Durham’s traditional schools. In addition to the funding it provides to in-county charter schools, the district also pays for Durham County students to attend more than 30 charter schools located outside of Durham County. It also pays for Durham County students to attend two virtual charter academies.

Bettina Umstead, chair of the Durham County Board of Education, said, “As charter schools continue to grow and expand within our district, it does strain the finances of the public school system as a portion of every new local dollar goes towards charter schools.”

That drain in traditional public school funding is not just about offering Durham parents options for their children. It’s about reducing the ability of Durham’s traditional schools to provide the sound basic education required by the North Carolina Constitution. A few charter schools in a county can improve local public education; too many can cripple it.

Predictably, the proposed federal changes have school choice advocates in a dither. They say parents should determine the need for more local charter schools.

Lindalyn Kakadelis, executive director of the N.C. Coalition for Charter Schools, wrote in a News & Observer op-ed, “Parents in the community, not bureaucrats in Washington, should determine ‘demand’ for a particular school in their neighborhood. They, not district administrators, know what’s best for their children.”

It’s disappointing that Catherine Truitt, the state superintendent of public instruction, is also objecting to the proposed changes. In a letter to the U.S. secretary of education, she wrote, “The proposed rule threatens to deny charter schools access to critical start-up funding... by placing outsized influence on traditional public school districts and undermining the decisions of state and local authorizing bodies.“

Charter schools have an important role in public education. It was spelled out when they were approved in North Carolina in the late 1990s. They were to be places where educators could try innovations and share their successes with other public schools.

Some charters have accomplished that mission. But others are offering only a private school environment where there is less pressure to integrate, to serve low-income and disabled students or be transparent about the curriculum and finances.

School choice advocates don’t want traditional public schools to have any say over charter schools even though the number and focus of local charter schools affect traditional schools. That’s an imbalance that is hurting public education. The proposed federal changes would go a long way to restore charter schools to their original purpose of helping all schools provide a better education.

This story was originally published April 14, 2022 at 4:30 AM with the headline "Proposed changes for charter schools will help NC’s traditional public schools."