Senators debate changes to charters

A state Senate proposal debated Wednesday would make sweeping changes to the way charter schools are funded and governed.

Republicans had promised to raise the cap on the number of charter schools allowed in North Carolina, but the Senate bill goes much further while leaving out suggestions made by various education groups. Among its provisions:

Erase limits on charter schools.

Take oversight away from the state Board of Education and give it to a newly created N.C. Public Charter School Commission.

Allow state funds, including lottery money, to be used for charter school construction.

Eliminate a requirement that charters try to reflect the racial and ethnic composition of their local school district.

Democratic senators and state Department of Public Instruction lobbyist Ann McColl immediately questioned the constitutionality of granting oversight to a group other than the state education board.

Charter supporters have focused on the schools' need for construction money.

"With no capital money, they've had to figure out how to get space," said Sen. Richard Stevens, a Cary Republican and the bill's sponsor.

Charters are public schools that operate without many of the regulations traditional public schools must follow, and the diversity requirement for charters is not enforced. But Senate Democrats said the proposal would encourage segregation.

"Why make it easier for a public charter school to be a segregated school?" asked Sen. Bill Purcell, a Laurinburg Democrat.

Stevens said the proposal is a starting point and changes will be considered in the coming weeks.

Charters choose students by lottery, and students are on waiting lists for opportunities to get into the popular ones. In addition to erasing the 100-school cap, the proposal would eliminate the restriction that limits charter schools' enrollment growth to 10 percent per year. The school and the new commission would determine how quickly a school could grow.

Karen Sutton of Charlotte said she has tried to get her 10-year-old daughter Kailyn into a charter school for two years, but she has ended up on waiting lists.

Sutton said Kailyn is doing well in a traditional public school but thinks she'll benefit from a smaller school as she gets older.

"It's left me in dismay," Sutton said. "What are we going to do next for my child?"

The N.C. Association of Educators and the N.C. School Boards Association want the state to require charters to provide transportation and offer low-income students free lunch.

Disadvantaged students are shut out of some of the state's best charters because they have no way to get there, said school boards lobbyist Leanne Winner.

"We want to make sure when charters are expanded that all children in the state have the opportunity to make that choice," she said.