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House Bill 10 Archives - North Carolina Coalition for Charter Schools

Dec 17
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Charter schools receive enrollment growth funding

By News

All NC public charter schools have now received their enrollment growth funding for the 2024-25 school year. This is a major achievement! The Coalition worked extremely hard to get this funding passed, and so we wanted to share a timeline and recap of our advocacy efforts below.

This past summer, it became clear that the legislature was unlikely to pass a budget in 2024. While this had financial implications for numerous things, the Coalition was particularly concerned about public charter schools with enrollment growth. These schools, we knew–along with district schools–would not be funded for growth without a state budget, given the shift to a “funding in arrears” model.

Coalition advocacy begins

As a result, Lindalyn Kakadelis, the Coalition’s executive director, and our Government Relations Team, moved quickly to reach out to lawmakers to advocate for our schools. Lindalyn first met with Representative Jeffrey Elmore on July 31, and the Coalition began a concerted push to pass legislation with growth funding as a line item.

Lawmakers and House Bill 10

Growth funding was first placed in a bill, House Bill 10, on September 9. (Read more about House Bill 10 from EdNC.) Lawmakers passed the bill quickly, sending it to Governor Cooper on September 11. However, he vetoed the bill on September 20, objecting to another bill provision. Nearly two months later, on November 19, the House voted to override the Governor’s veto. The Senate followed suit the next day, on November 20.

School Business efforts at the Department of Public Instruction

In addition to advocacy work with lawmakers, the Coalition reached out to the Department of Public Instruction’s School Business Office. Our team encouraged DPI leaders to send the money to schools as soon as possible.
We are so pleased that, within three weeks of lawmakers’ vote to override the Governor’s veto, all of the growth funding was released to charter schools across the state.  We are grateful to Alexis Schauss and her team at DPI for getting funding out so quickly. Thank you for helping to achieve this goal!

If you missed the Coalition’s statement thanking lawmakers for the veto override, you can find it here.

Nov 21
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NC lawmakers pass charter school growth funding

By News

Lawmakers returned to Raleigh on Tuesday for the first time since the election. That day, the House voted to override Governor Cooper’s veto of House Bill 10, a mini-budget with public charter and district enrollment growth funding, among other things. Yesterday, the Senate voted to override the veto.

The Coalition yesterday released a statement thanking lawmakers for enacting House Bill 10 into law. As the statement notes about House Bill 10:

The measure includes critical enrollment growth funding for all public schools, including public charter schools. Without the funds in House Bill 10, growing public schools would have had to continue educating new students with a fraction of the funding they expected. Some public charter schools, especially newer schools that enrolled more students this year, would have had to take out loans to meet payroll without the additional funds.

Lindalyn Kakadelis, executive director of the Coalition, said, “Thank you to state lawmakers for solving the enrollment growth funding challenge facing public charter schools this year. Our member schools have been anxiously awaiting resolution to this issue, and lawmakers delivered.”

Read more about the measure from EdNC.

Above: Shutterstock photo.

Sep 12
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Lawmakers pass enrollment growth funding for charter schools

By Legislation, News

North Carolina lawmakers this week approved a mini-budget bill with much-needed funds for growing public schools, including charters. The measure, House Bill 10, includes $95 million in recurring funding for K-12 enrollment growth, among other things. The Senate passed the bill on Monday, and the House approved it yesterday.

Why is this funding necessary? This year, the state moved to a new funding model (“funding in arrears”) which pays schools based on last year’s enrollment. Enrollment growth is to be covered by a contingency reserve.

EdNC explains:

In 2023, lawmakers also enacted a new funding in arrears model for K-12 public schools. This means funding is now based on the previous year’s enrollment, rather than projections. Lawmakers and officials from the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) have said this model gives more budget certainty to schools.

However, the new enrollment growth account balance only has $2.5 million it it, [House Speaker Tim] Moore said in a press release this week, “less than 5% of expected funding necessary to meet the needs of K-12 enrollment growth for this year.”

“Therefore, the mini budget allocates $95 million to meet this critical need for our growing public schools,” Moore said.

Like most bills, House Bill 10 includes a variety of provisions. In addition to funding public K-12 enrollment growth, the bill also provides additional funds for community colleges and the Opportunity Scholarship Program, and includes other components.

Now, the governor can sign or veto it–or allow the bill to become law in 10 days by not taking any action. The Coalition has urged the governor to allow the bill to become law.

In a press release distributed Tuesday before the House vote, Lindalyn Kakadelis, the Coalition’s executive director, said:

Thank you to state lawmakers for coming together to propose enrollment growth funding at traditional and charter schools. Our member schools have reached out to us with great anxiety in recent weeks, because without this funding they may soon face a liquidity crisis. We respectfully urge lawmakers and the governor to ensure this funding is enacted into law.

Read more about the measure in the Charlotte Observer and EdNC.

Above: Shutterstock photo.