Leaders of charter schools enrolling mostly black students say they have filed a federal discrimination complaint against the state, claiming a new policy targets such schools for closure.
The State Board of Education policy adopted in December says that a charter school's students must absorb at least a year's worth of material each year and that 60 percent or more must pass standardized tests. The state board is supposed to yank charters from schools that fail to meet these standards two out of three straight years.
The state Association of African American Charter School Administrators said the policy is discriminatory. Some principals suspect that mostly black charters are being squeezed out to make way for white charters.
"That's exactly what we believe is taking place," said association president Don McQueen, executive director of Torchlight Academy, a charter school in Raleigh. The group has asked the civil rights office at the U.S. Department of Education to investigate, he said, "so we can get a real clear picture."
The state allows only 100 charters, so few applications for new schools are approved each year. To meet the demand for new charter schools, some existing ones would have to close.
The association said it filed the federal complaint April 16 against the state school board, the state Department of Public Instruction and its charter school office. The U.S. Department of Education could not confirm Monday that it had received the complaint.
Minimum proficiency
In explaining the policy, state Superintendent of Public Instruction June Atkinson pointed out that if students are already below grade level, it's easier to make strides in a year's time.
And, she said, requiring schools to reach minimum proficiency is reasonable. "I believe that we need to get all of our schools to a minimum of 60 percent," she said.
The state has received a federal grant to help the bottom 5 percent of schools, Atkinson said, and charter schools are eligible for aid provided with that money.
Gov. Bev Perdue prodded the school board to examine charter standards. The Blue Ribbon Commission on Charter Schools recommended in January 2008 the state raise the charter limit by six each year, and emphasize excellence by moving swiftly to close charters with poor academic performance. The commission recommended charters get a single year to improve after one bad year, or lose their charters.
Clarifying expectations
State Board of Education Chairman Bill Harrison worked on a committee that came up with the policy changes the board approved. At the time, he said he was concerned the expectations for charters were not clear.
Charter schools, allowed under a 1996 state law, receive public money but are largely free of restrictions placed on traditional public schools. Charters were intended to be laboratories for innovation, Harrison said last year, but they have not met that expectation.
In general in North Carolina, black students' performance on standardized tests is lower than that of the student population as a whole, the complaint said.
The "arbitrary selection" of a 60 percent passing rate on tests that are culturally biased discriminates against black charter schools and their students, the complaint said. The complaint says the policy also discriminates against Hispanics, students with disabilities, and students whose knowledge of English is limited.
Ozie Lee Hall Jr., CEO of Kinston Charter Academy, said charters do a better job of educating low-income African American students than traditional schools.
