Republicans have given Democrats almost everything they asked for in the charter school expansion bill — including requirements that charters provide free lunches and free transportation — but Democrats still are unhappy. They say the bill undermines the authority of the State Board of Education, fails to hold charter schools accountable, and doesn’t go far enough to remove economic barriers to charters.
On March 15, Sen. Richard Stevens, R-Wake, introduced the latest version of Senate Bill 8, No Cap on Charter Schools, to the House Committee on Education.
In it, Republicans made three major concessions to Democrats, in addition to three compromises they made last week. They gave the State Board of Education more control over a proposed Charter School Commission and required charter schools both to provide free or reduced lunches and to “make efforts” to provide free transportation to low-income students.
Unconstitutional commission?
Rep. Rick Glazier, D-Cumberland, said the bill’s creation of a Charter School Commission is unconstitutional. He pointed to Article 9, Section 5, of the North Carolina Constitution:
“The State Board of Education shall supervise and administer the free public school system and educational funds provided for its support … and shall make all the needed rules and regulations in relation thereto, subject to laws enacted by the General Assembly.”
Glazier said putting charter schools under the control of the commission, rather than the state board, would create two public school systems in competition with one another. He offered an amendment taking away all independent functions of the commission and making it advisory only.
Stevens argued that the Charter School Commission was not a separate board of education. It’s a commission, working with and under the state board, he said.
Plus, any decision made by the commission could be overruled by a two-thirds vote by the state board. Previously, the bill stated that a three-fourths majority would be needed to overrule commission decisions. Since nearly all votes by the board have been unanimous, this concession might not seem significant. But to ease concerns that a future Republican governor might appoint board members who were more sympathetic to charters than the board has been in the past, Republicans reduced the board’s veto threshold.
Glazier’s amendment failed, but Democrats warn if the bill passes, a court challenge to the constitutionality of the commission may follow.
Terry Stoops, director of education studies at the John Locke Foundation, said eight states already have charter school commissions that operate somewhat independently from their state boards of education. In three states, the constitutionality of the commissions has been challenged. Florida’s commission was deemed unconstitutional, while Colorado’s was upheld. The verdict is still out in Georgia, though, where a state supreme court decision is pending.
Stoops said Georgia’s ruling should offer a decent test for North Carolina’s eventual outcome, as we have similar state constitutions and both charter school commissions would have similar functions.
Accountability
Glazier offered a second amendment forcing the commission to revoke charters of schools that failed to get 60 percent of their students to score “proficient” on state tests for two years out of any three-year period.
Currently, the State Board of Education has the option of revoking charters from schools that don’t meet the proficiency standard, but it is not required.
Stoops called the amendment a double standard, because district schools are not required to meet that standard. If they were, hundreds of schools would be closed, he said.
Not only do traditional public schools remain open when they fail to reach 60-percent proficiency, Stoops said, they also are rewarded with additional dollars from the state.
The amendment would lead to the closure of Grandfather Academy in Banner Elk, which serves sexually abused children, “the most at-risk kids you can imagine,” said Stoops.
The academy may never reach 60-percent proficiency, Stoops added, “but if these kids were put in a traditional school, they would not be able to function at all.”
If the standard were applied to Sugar Creek Charter School – which serves extremely poor students in Charlotte – in the first three years, the school would’ve been closed. Now the school easily exceeds the requirement, he said.
The amendment failed.
Free lunches and buses
Two of Glazier’s suggestions that were included in the updated version of the bill require charter schools to provide free or reduced price lunches and attempt to provide transportation to students whose household income is at or below 185 percent of the federal poverty level.
Democrats were grateful for these additions, but were not satisfied that the bill could allow schools failing to provide food or transportation to low-income students to face no consequences.
Rep. Earline Parmon, D-Forsyth, said the provision of the bill requiring charters to “develop a plan for food services which ensures that lack of food services shall not be a barrier for any student” does not go far enough.
Parmon contended that “developing a plan” was not the same as ensuring free and reduced lunches actually were being served.
“If Democrats had their way, they would require the charters to participate in the federal school lunch program,” Stoops said, “which would be terrible.”
In addition to forcing charter schools to build cafeterias meeting federal standards, with equipment meeting federal regulations, the program comes along with nutritional requirements, which Stoops said are not so nutritional.
“Government food is absolutely terrible,” Stoops said. “The most unhealthy food you can get. Talk about obesity epidemics — well, if you look at what government food is being served in cafeterias it’s no wonder why.”
Moreover, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which supplies beef, chicken, and other meat for many school districts in North Carolina and elsewhere, has been criticized recently for providing meat and other commodities that are less safe than that served in fast-food restaurants.
Students from Millennium Charter Academy in Mount Airy, who gave a press conference at the General Assembly March 10, said their school already offers free lunches without the federal government’s help.
The school offers plenty of “healthy and delicious” choices from local caterers and restaurants, the students said.
Stoops said many charters use this model and are able to use the profits from the majority of students’ lunches to offset the cost of free lunches to those who qualify. This is in contrast to the cafeterias at most district schools, which run at a loss, he said.
And while many of the students at Millennium, which is in a rural setting, must be driven 20 or 30 minutes to school, they’ve worked out carpool systems that they say function more efficiently than buses.
“We want to maintain the freedom to address our needs in a way that works for us,” said eighth grader Joshua Stevens.
Sara Burrows is an associate editor of Carolina Journal.