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Senate Bill 254 - Charter School Changes Archives - North Carolina Coalition for Charter Schools

Jan 07
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Clarifying charter flexibility with teacher evaluation, including beginning teachers

By Legislation, News

Charter leaders, we want to ensure you understand your flexibility in choosing teacher evaluation tools. This flexibility, outlined in state law, extends to your school’s evaluation of beginning as well as veteran teachers. Practically, that means charter schools are not required to use NCEES (NC Educator Effectiveness System) for teacher evaluation. In fact, charters may use any evaluation, provided it is similar to district and state evaluation standards.

The Coalition worked to codify this charter flexibility in state law. We achieved it through enactment in 2025 of Senate Bill 254/Session Law 2025-80.

A General Assembly summary of various provisions in the law notes that SB 254:

Allows charter schools to develop and use any evaluation for conducting the evaluation of teachers, if the evaluation instrument includes standards and criteria similar to those used in the North Carolina Professional Teaching Standards and North Carolina Teacher Evaluation Process or such other evaluation standard and process required to be used by LEAs.

Coalition Executive Director Dave Machado has confirmed this flexibility with Department of Public Instruction (DPI) leadership. Charlene Pittman is the co-director of educator performance at DPI. In communication with the Coalition, she referenced GS 115C-218.90(a), which now includes this amended language, mirroring the legislature’s summary above:

(7) A charter school may develop and use any evaluation for conducting evaluations of teachers provided that it includes standards and criteria similar to those used in the North Carolina Professional Teaching Standards and North Carolina Teacher Evaluation Process, or such other evaluation standard and process required to be used by local school administrative units.

We’re so pleased this important flexibility is enshrined in state law. As you likely know, the Coalition exists to protect and promote public charter schools. So, guarding against regulatory creep and protecting charter autonomy is a core part of our work!

Learn more about the Coalition here.

Above: Shutterstock photo.

Jul 29
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State lawmakers override Governor’s veto of S254 – Charter School Changes

By Legislation, News

North Carolina lawmakers today voted to override Governor Stein’s veto of Senate Bill 254 – Charter School Changes. This is a major legislative victory for the state’s charter schools.

S254 includes most of the Coalition’s legislative priorities for this long session. Provisions in the bill will significantly benefit the state’s charter sector. So, we wish to thank all of the state lawmakers in both chambers who supported this important legislation.

The Coalition’s Government Relations Team worked very hard to get this legislation passed, and we are so pleased it is now session law. Thank you to the charter leaders who contacted legislators to express your support. Your advocacy matters!

The vote was 30-19 in the Senate and 74-46 in the House. Learn more here.

Following the vote to override, Coalition Executive Director Dave Machado released this statement today:

“On behalf of more than 150,000 students who rely on a public charter school for their education, thank you to the 74 members of the House of Representatives and 30 members of the Senate who voted to override Gov. Josh Stein’s veto of Senate Bill 254.

“Public charter schools succeed because of their flexibility and autonomy. Senate Bill 254 protects that flexibility and autonomy by empowering a body of charter school experts, insulated from political maneuverings, at the front line of regulation and oversight.”

Coalition Counsel Matthew Tilley has compiled bullet points summarizing major provisions of this legislation. Senate Bill 254:

  • Confirms that the State Board of Education (SBE) cannot adopt any rules or policies related to charter schools unless they are first approved by the Charter Schools Review Board (CSRB).
  • Requires that hearings on appeals from Department of Public Instruction (DPI) decisions to revoke, rescind, or require repayment of federal grants be heard by the CSRB.
  • Requires that the executive director of the Office of Charter Schools (OCS) be selected by, and report to, the CSRB.
  • Grants the CSRB authority to hire its own legal counsel.
  • Appropriates money to pay for CSRB’s legal counsel for the 2025-27 biennium.
  • Prohibits SBE from withholding funds to a charter school unless (1) it is due to a reduction in ADM or (2) the CSRB (rather than the Superintendent) notifies SBE that the school is in violation of its charter, is mismanaging its finances, or has violated the terms of a State or federal grant.
  • Grants charter schools freedom to relocate within 10 miles without a charter amendment, so long as they remain within the same district (LEA).
  • Clarifies that charters have authority to use their own teacher evaluation tools.
  • Requires that low-performing or continually low-performing charter schools report and present improvement plans to the CSRB, rather than SBE.
  • Requires DPI to provide first-year schools access to a financial data reporting platform (LINQ) at no cost.
  • Provides that a charter school operating a remote academy with 250 or more students can apply for a separate charter for the remote academy, and authorizes the CSRB to grant the request for a separate charter on an expedited basis.

Read the text of S254 – Charter School Changes. 

Learn more about specific S254 provisions in this Coalition blog post.

Bill provisions take effect beginning with this current 2025-2026 school year.

Above: Shutterstock photo.

Jul 03
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Governor Stein vetoes S 254 – Charter School Changes

By Legislation, News

Governor Stein yesterday vetoed Senate Bill 254 – Charter School Changes. As you may know, this legislation includes important provisions–for which the Coalition has advocated–that clarify and strengthen the role of the Charter Schools Review Board. S 254 also includes provisions around charter school flexibility and autonomy. Read more in this Coalition blog post about provisions in S 254.

Following the veto, the Coalition released this statement from Dave Machado, our executive director:

“More than 150,000 North Carolina families now rely on public charter schools to educate their children.

“The success of public charter schools hinges on their flexibility and autonomy. The legislature rightly placed at the front line of charter school regulation and oversight a body of public charter school experts insulated from political maneuverings that have hamstrung the charter sector in other states.

“The Constitution clearly authorizes the legislature to do this. The operative words are literally, ‘subject to laws enacted by the General Assembly.’

“On behalf of the 150,000 families who rely on charter schools, we hope the legislature successfully overrides Gov. Stein’s veto.”

See Dave Machado’s statement here.

Here is what Senate Leader Phil Berger wrote about the veto on X:

“Educational freedom was a hard-won fight in NC. Like @realDonaldTrump, I will never stop fighting for universal school choice.

“Governor Stein’s egregious veto of a bill supporting school choice and charter schools will be overridden in the Senate. Unfortunately, Sam Page opposes the historic school choice reforms we’ve implemented.

“He’d side with Gov. Stein and education bureaucrats on school choice. I side with President Trump and North Carolina families.”

This is what Governor Stein said in his veto of S 254:

“Senate Bill 254 is an unconstitutional infringement on the authority of the State Board of Education and the Superintendent of Public Instruction. Additionally, it weakens accountability of charter schools when every North Carolina student deserves excellent public schools, whether traditional or charter.”

View the press release from Governor Stein’s office here.   

Read more from WFAE, CBS 17 News, Yahoo! News, Carolina Journal and WRAL.

Above: Shutterstock photo.