As someone who graduated from an unaccredited public high school in rural South Carolina, I can attest that the prospect of Wake County schools losing their accreditation is serious. I was scouted by MIT, Bryn Mawr and CalTech, among others, due to my test scores. I watched as every school decided I needed even higher scores on other entrance exams and was ineligible for scholarships since my high school diploma "didn't count."
Then when the colleges got my transcript, they discovered I had taken one math class my last year in high school at the local university as a dual-enrolled student, because the high school had no higher math or science classes. Because the high school was unaccredited, other colleges/universities wouldn't recognize the dual-enrollment and considered me a transfer student for scholarship purposes due to that one math class. There are no scholarships for non-athlete transfer students.
This really is a big deal. Today you'd have more success gaining a scholarship for a home-schooled child than for one from an unaccredited public high school. Dual-enrollees will be barred from all scholarships. The board needs to stop and think about the consequences before taking steps that will cost us our accreditation.
