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NC public charter schools 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.

May 25
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The Charter Movement Makes Gains in State Legislatures Nationwide

By Legislation, News

It has been a beneficial spring for the public charter school movement. That’s the key finding outlined in a new blog post from Todd Ziebarth, the senior vice president of state advocacy and support at the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. During the Spring 2023 legislative sessions, states such as Montana, Indiana, Arkansas, New York, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Florida, and West Virginia all enacted legislation favorable to charter schools.

So far, the most significant legislative advancement has been in Montana, Ziebarth writes:

Perhaps the biggest win this session comes from Big Sky Country, the great state of Montana, where it is now the 46th state with a charter school law. After a roller coaster ride of a session, the legislature passed two charter school bills, and Governor Greg Gianforte signed The Community Choice Schools Act (HB 562) into law on May 16, 2023.

We partnered with a coalition of organizations and individuals in Montana to get HB 562 passed by the legislature. This bill creates a new statewide charter school authorizing entity and provides charter schools with the flexibility to innovate while holding them accountable for results.

Lawmakers in a number of states, including North Carolina, are still considering major charter school bills. During the Spring 2023 legislative session in our state, the Coalition has been advocating intensively for charter interests, with a special focus on HB 219, Charter School Omnibus, and HB 618, Charter School Review Board. Learn more about these important bills in this Coalition blog post.