Endeavor Charter School, which hopes locate in North Raleigh, argues that fast-growing Wake County needs another charter school more than finalists in Duplin and Guilford counties. Endeavor's backers are lobbying elected officials and parents to urge the state Board of Education to approve their application.

"We have schools being overpopulated that have kids on waiting lists," said Maija Moran McAdams, secretary of Endeavor's board of directors. "I don't think the other counties need it as much."

But the other two finalists argue that Wake has more than its share of the alternative academies, with 13 of the state's 98 charter schools. They argue that their communities are more deserving of charter schools.

"Let's spread the charter schools around the state," said Mark Cramer, headmaster of the Roger Bacon Academy, the nonprofit corporation that would operate the Duplin Charter School.

A state Board of Education committee will interview the finalists Aug. 2. They will make a recommendation to the full board, which could vote in September. The schools would open to students for the 2008-09 school year.

The battle for charter slots has heated up now that openings are scarce. The General Assembly capped the number of charter schools at 100.

The schools are publicly funded, but are run by private boards, and administrators don't have to follow all of the regulations imposed on traditional public schools. Charter schools are also supposed to offer innovative themes.

Endeavor's theme is to target academically gifted students who have learning disabilities. School founders say they're in a better position than the overcrowded Wake County public schools to provide the individualized attention and smaller class sizes those students need. Endeavor would also stress public speaking skills.

While it would be located in Wake County, students from other counties could apply. The school would serve students in kindergarten through eighth grade, and would operate on a year-round calendar.

Endeavor's founders stress they're not trying to attack the Wake school system. They note how many of them have worked in public schools.

"I'm absolutely not against public education," said Stephen McAdams, a member of Endeavor's board and a retired English teacher who worked in the Winston Salem-Forsyth County school system for 37 years. "We never considered a private school, not that I'm against private schools. The charter school seemed to the perfect solution."

McAdams' daughter-in-law, Moran McAdams, is a teacher at North Forest Pines Drive Elementary School in North Raleigh. McAdams' daughter, Christi Whiteside, is chairwoman of the board and a teacher at Sanford Creek Elementary School in Rolesville.

To cut down on the fighting over the last slots allotted to charter schools and to provide more parental choice, advocates have lobbied for changes to the cap. But bills in the state House and Senate aimed at eliminating the cap have gone nowhere this year.

The N.C. Center for Public Policy Research, a nonpartisan research organization, issued a report last month saying the cap should stay in place until charter schools improve their academic performance. In that report, the group also urged the state Board of Education to grant future charters in counties that have none.

Of the three finalists, Duplin County has no charter schools. Cramer noted that six counties surrounding Duplin also have none. Guilford County has three, while Wake has 13, the most of any county.