NC board recommends Garner charter school, despite concerns it would encourage 'white flight'

A state charter school panel has recommended a new charter school in Wake County.

American Leadership Academy in Garner would be the town's first.

But the school's largely white enrollment at another location in Wilmington has the Wake County Public School System concerned about the potential for "white flight" here.

The Wilmington academy is 87% white, compared to 56% of New Hanover County Schools.

All but two Wake County schools in Garner are majority non-white.

The Wilmington academy also has just 6.5% students with disabilities, compared to 13% in New Hanover County Schools.

Wake school board chairwoman Lindsay Mahaffey and superintendent Cathy Moore wrote a letter opposing the school, though it didn't keep the state Charter School Advisory Board from recommending on a 5-4 vote for the State Board of Education approve the school later this fall.

Board members said Tuesday they believed more charter schools were in demand. The school would serve 2,050 K-12 students.

Terry Stoops, who was appointed to the N.C. Charter School Advisory Board by Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, said that the Wake County is already operating underperforming and segregated schools.

“Rather than complain about the fact that a charter school is locating in a district like Wake, I think Wake leaders need to step up and ask some tough questions about what they are doing to ensure their students are satisfied, their families are satisfied and the students stay in that district," he said.

In the letter, Mahaffey and Moore said the school's exclusionary practices have skewed its standardized test scores.

"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 traditional public schools," they wrote.

However, Stoops said there were "glaring errors" in Wake County's letter to the state, saying that the reason the district is opposed to the new charter school is because "many school districts do not like the competition.”

Stoops is also the director of the Center for Effective Education for the John Locke Foundation, a nonprofit conservative think tank that bills themselves as a nonpartisan organization.

“Really what the school district needs to do is embrace competition and embrace the fact that this competition will make them better," he said.

The Wilmington campus was also low-performing last year, according to state records. The school is managed by Charter One, which also just opened Wake Prep Academy in Wake Forest. The school has grabbed headlines for its inability to manage traffic in the area of Youngsville and Wake Forest.

Wake County education leaders pointed to transportation for one of the reasons that the school should not open. They claim it will only sow inequality, as not all students can afford on private transportation to take them to school. American Leadership Academy says it plans to provide transportation via cluster bus stops instead of individual neighborhoods. They will also have a weighted lottery for enrollment to ensure.

According to data from the National Center for Educational Statistics, more than half of all students rely on public transportation to get to school.

School leaders sent a statement to WRAL News.

"The student population of ALA Garner will directly mirror the community it serves and provide equal opportunities for all families, including diverse families," the school's statement reads in part.​

Keith Poston, president of the charity WakeEd Partnership, aims to support the public school system. He said that while his organization does not take a position on charter school, he believes that the new Garner charter school is only going to fuel inequality in the area.

“By nature, if you are going to require the parents drive them somewhere else outside their neighborhood or not provide lunch services or free lunch for them you are going to have some families that just can’t afford it," he said.

“The demand for charter schools just continues to accelerate," Stoops said.

The county school system often opposes charter school applications if it believes that the charter school's demographics would fail to mirror nearby schools' demographics. Many traditional public schools write letters opposing charter schools out of concern for demographics and the resources that might be taken from the traditional public schools.

The Wake County Public School System has been gradually losing its market share of the county's students since charter schools first opened 25 years ago.

Statewide, charter school demographics do not mirror statewide demographics, often enrolling more white students and far fewer Hispanics and far fewer students with disabilities.

American Leadership Academy is founded by Glenn Way, whom the Arizona Republic reported has made millions of dollars building the schools that the leadership academy then purchases from his companies.

The North Carolina State Board of Education gets the final word on whether to approve the school. A vote is expected next month.