NC Charter Schools

In North Caroline, charter schools were authorized beginning in 1996 with the enactment of the NC Charter School Act, and the first North Carolina charter schools began operation in 1997. When charter schools were initially authorized, there was a cap and not more than 100 charter schools would be authorized. The cap was removed in 2011, and in August 2019 the state will have nearly 200 charter schools. As a result of the significant rise of charter schools and concerns about the inequity and the lack of accountability, State Senator Dan Blue introduced Senate Bill 247, which would establish Joint Legislative Study Committee to study the impact of charter schools on traditional public schools and student academic performance and put a hold on the granting charter applications until after the committee has issued its report and recommendations. On this show, we discuss charter schools in NC with Malik Edwards, Law Professor at North Carolina Central University School of Law, and Erika Wilson, Law Professor at UNC-Chapel Hill School of Law.