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Senate lowers performance standards for charter schools, eliminates enrollment cap

Legislation that cleared the Senate on Wednesday would allow charter schools to continue operating in North Carolina even if their students perform worse than students in traditional public schools.

Posted Updated

By
Matthew Burns
, WRAL.com senior producer/politics editor
RALEIGH, N.C. — Legislation that cleared the Senate on Wednesday would allow charter schools to continue operating in North Carolina even if their students perform worse than students in traditional public schools.

Senate Bill 522, which passed on a 25-18 vote, also would eliminate an enrollment cap for the state's two online charter schools, Connections Academy and North Carolina Virtual Academy.

Neither of the schools is within 100 students of the 2,592-student cap put in place four years ago when they opened. The State Board of Education also could remove a 20 percent limit on annual enrollment growth

Sen. Jay Chaudhuri, D-Wake, said the measure should be dubbed the "Rewarding Failure Act," noting that both of the virtual schools have received "D" grades on the state's annual school performance report cards in their first three years of operation and that students taking online classes through them haven't met growth expectations.

"We're essentially rewarding these two schools that fail our students by increasing enrollments," Chaudhuri said.

He noted that one of the schools is embroiled in a power struggle between its board of directors and the for-profit company operating it that has resulted in teachers not being paid for months. He didn't name the school, but the board of Connections Academy is trying to replace its management company.

"Virtual charter schools give charter schools a bad name," he said. "It is not good public policy to send our children to programs that have been deemed completely ineffective."

Sen. Ralph Hise, R-Mitchell, said parents should determine what works best for their children, adding that some rural counties don't have nearby charter schools as an option and parents possibly cannot find advanced courses for their children anyplace other than an online charter school.

"Distance education courses aren't for every student," Hise said. "But a traditional classroom setting is not for every student either."

Sen. Natasha Marcus, D-Mecklenburg, questioned why the state doesn't have routine evaluations of online charters to ensure they meet performance standards.

"We evaluate our public schools like crazy. We grade the teachers, we grade the schools, we test the kids," Marcus said. "I worry about our state offering a choice that is not a good choice. We can't be selling and encouraging parents to choose something without giving them information about whether this is going to provide your kid with an adequate education or not."

"Virtual charter schools are evaluated every day and every year by the parents who choose to enroll their students in them," Hise replied.

Another provision in the bill would mandate a 10-year renewal of any charter school unless the percentage of its students deemed proficient in end-of-grade testing is more than 5 points lower than the students in the local school district.

"Instead of saying these schools must be equal to the local [district], we are now saying they can be 5 percent worse," said Sen. Joyce Waddell, D-Mecklenburg. "We are now rewarding a system originally designed to improve outcomes by allowing them a gold star for performing 5 percent worse than our local [districts]."

Sponsor Sen. Jerry Tillman, R-Randolph, said charters schools overall "have a good record, and it's getting better all the time."

Tillman did drop a section of the bill that would have allowed a city or county to spend tax money on charter school construction. Currently, charters get state money for personnel, textbooks and other classroom needs, but they aren't provided any money for capital expenses.

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