New legislative leadership has meant new life for efforts to lift North Carolina’s statewide cap of 100 charter schools. The state Senate already has approved a bill to lift the cap. The House is considering similar legislation. Dr. Terry Stoops, John Locke Foundation director of education studies, discussed the issue with Donna Martinez for Carolina Journal Radio as legislators were starting to debate the issue. (Click here to find a station near you or to learn about the weekly CJ Radio podcast.)
Martinez: Is it a new era for public charter schools?
Stoops: It certainly is. We’re going to see the cap raised. I don’t think it’s going to be eliminated completely, but it is going to be raised. And this is a long time coming. We’ve had charter schools in this state for approximately 14 years now, and charter schools for a long time have been asking for this cap to be raised. We’ve run up against the cap after the first four years of charter schools, so we’ve been looking for this for a very long time.
Martinez: So are there more people who want to start charters but just haven’t been able to because of this artificial cap?
Stoops: Absolutely. In fact, every year we see that the State Board of Education must choose between several qualified applicants for these charter school slots. So it’s not so much that we have few qualified applicants; it’s that we have had few spots for those applicants to fill. So they’re out there. They’re ready to open charter schools. They already have community support, and all that is left now is for us to lift that cap.
Martinez: There continues, Terry, to be some misinformation. Some people believe that charters are private schools. They are not.
Stoops: No, they’re not private schools. They’re not religious schools of any kind. These are public schools that receive state, federal, and local funds. They are not held to some of the restrictions that our traditional public schools are, but still have to take state tests. So these are public schools. The State Board of Education has responsibility for oversight for these schools, and it’s very important to remember that these are part of the public school system.
Martinez: The legislature is now controlled by the Republicans, and they have said that public charter schools — [it] is an issue that they consider a top priority. So are you expecting some real movement in reform? Do you expect this cap to be lifted?
Stoops: Yes, I do expect the cap to be lifted. What concerns me is that the Republicans will choose to lift the cap and believe that that is where the charter school reform stops. And it is not. There are a lot of things that need to be done to reform the laws in place and the regulations that restrict charter schools.
Martinez: Let’s talk about some of those. Let’s say they go ahead and lift the cap. What should happen next?
Stoops: Well, there are funding issues. There are some issues in play, that charter schools receive less funds than your traditional public schools, and some charter school advocates would like to see that equalized. But more than anything, the authorization process needs to be addressed. If a charter school operator already operates a successful school, it doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense for them to have to go through the entire process again if they want to build another school. So, some kind of process that allows existing successful charter schools to replicate themselves and put these successful school models elsewhere will be needed. Otherwise, the State Board of Education, which authorizes all charter schools, can stymie any attempt for successful charter schools to replicate themselves. And that would be a real shame.
Martinez: Let’s talk a little bit more about regulation and oversight. How do the public charter schools currently connect, if you will, to the traditional public school system? And is that the way it should be?
Stoops: Well, charter schools connect in the sense that these are laboratories of innovation — [that] is what President Obama has called them. And they really are. They’re a way to model some innovative instructional techniques and curriculum approaches. Unfortunately, the traditional public schools have been very resistant to taking what is going on in charter schools and applying it to their own system. So unfortunately, it’s been a one-way street — charter schools constantly reaching out to traditional public schools, traditional public schools not interested in returning the favor.
Martinez: Does the Department of Public Instruction currently oversee them? I mean, how much of a relationship is there between a charter school and the education bureaucracy?
Stoops: The state does exercise oversight over charter schools. Ultimately, if a charter school is closed, it’s a decision that’s made by the state. The Department of Public Instruction currently has several consultants that advise the head of the charter schools, and the State Board of Education, on the status of every charter school that we have in the state. So if there are financial irregularities, if there are any problems with the charter schools, the state board knows it.
Martinez: Is that a good relationship in your view? Or do you make any recommendations for reforming the way that public charter schools are handled by the education system?
Stoops: Absolutely. The State Board of Education doesn’t want to spend their time focusing on 100 schools. There are 2,500 schools in this state, but they spend a lot of time focusing on these 100 schools. And that’s why I think we could use an independent charter school commission that will oversee charter schools, that will approve applications, and that will ultimately provide oversight. And that’s why it’s so important for legislators to realize that raising the cap is just a start. There is much more that needs to be done, and this independent oversight board is critical for the success of the new charter schools coming into this state once the cap is lifted.
Martinez: Let’s talk about what happens next if the cap is lifted, from the perspective of parents or people who might be interested in starting a charter school. So let’s say we wake up one day, and the headline is the cap is lifted. What should someone who is interested in this do? What kind of process do they have to go through to even try to create a school?
Stoops: Well, it’s getting community members together and writing a proposal for a school to the State Board of Education. And there’s a lot of help that they can receive from existing charter schools and national groups that can help them compose a coherent and persuasive proposal to the state for a charter school. And it’s important that they have thought through all the various financial issues — the establishing of a nonprofit. There’s a lot that goes into creating a charter school, but it’s really about getting community members together — parents, ordinary citizens — and coming together and creating a charter school and gaining state approval, ultimately.
Martinez: Is it safe to assume that if a group of citizens or parents is looking at creating a school, that there’s something about their traditional system that they feel is not meeting the needs of their child? Are they looking for that innovation?
Stoops: Yes. Most often they find that, with having few options, few affordable options, that a charter school is a way to provide greater options for communities. Not only that, it provides options for specific populations in those communities. Often low-income children or children with special needs will seek out a charter school because it provides better services and usually more individual attention, which every parent wants for their kid.
Martinez: What about student achievement? What kind of results have we seen from public charters so far?
Stoops: They’ve struggled for their first decade, but what we have found now is that charter schools are now performing equally as well as the traditional public schools, according to state tests. We have stronger charter schools in this state. Student performance continues to rise significantly. And I think in the future we’re going to see charter schools surpass the performance of their traditional counterparts.