14 new charter schools want to open in NC in 2021

Charters, which are publicly funded and privately run schools that do not charge tuition, have been booming in North Carolina with more than 100,000 students enrolled at 196 schools across the state. Twelve charters opened this year, and 10 more are expected next year – putting the state's count at 206 charter schools.

The deadline to submit an application for the 2021-22 school year was Aug. 26. Each applicant was required to pay a $1,000 application fee, complete criminal background checks on its proposed board members and provide a detailed description of the proposed school's mission, goals, education plan, operations and governance plan and financial plan.

The Office of Charter Schools will review the applications for completeness before forwarding them to the N.C. Charter Schools Advisory Board. The CSAB will then review the applications and interview the proposed school leaders before making recommendations to the State Board of Education about which schools should open.

NC charter, private, home schools growing as traditional schools continue losing students

Charter schools were created in North Carolina two decades ago, and their enrollment has increased more than 200 percent in the past 10 years.

State funding for charters has grown from about $16.5 million in 1997, when there were 34 schools, to now more than $580 million, a 3,415 percent increase. Of the $8.93 billion in state funding for public education, 6.5 percent is allotted to charter schools.

New report: NC charter schools meeting financial goals, but not academic targets

Of North Carolina's 172 charter schools during the 2017-18 school year, 94% met or exceeded all financial and operational goals. Three years earlier, only 32% of charter schools did the same.

The state's charter schools didn't fare as well academically, according to the report. Nearly 69% of charters met or exceeded academic growth expectations, but that number has continued to decline for several years as the schools have failed to reach the 75% threshold set by the state.

During the 2017-18 school year, 28 of the state's charter schools were deemed continually low performing, even though the state set a goal of no more than nine schools being labeled that way. The year before, 20 charters were continually low performing. The designation means the schools have been low performing for at least two of the past three years.