CMS opposes expanded charter schools financing bill

EDUCATION NC

Charlotte-Mecklenburg's school board opposes House Bill 219, which would add new categories of funding traditional public schools would share with charter schools.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board opposes a bill that it believes would impact the district’s funding.

The board signaled resistance to House Bill 219 Charter School Omnibus, which it says would result in a financial impact to CMS of at least $17 million a year, potentially impacting staffing levels and academic options for students. 

Current law provides specific guidance regarding calculating per-pupil funding school districts must give to charter schools. House Bill 219 would add new categories of financing for charter schools, including for services charter schools don’t provide.

“Allowing charter schools to share in funding for services they don’t provide, or to double-dip for services for which they are already funded, seems counterintuitive to using the public’s education dollars in the most efficient manner,” CMS Vice Chair Stephanie Sneed said in a statement. “These programs, and the funds for them, are needed directly for the students who receive these critical services. We shouldn’t take away funding for these critical services and divert much-needed funds to charter schools that don’t provide them.” 

As an example, reimbursements from the federal government would be included in the per pupil calculation to share with charters if HB 219 becomes law. Also, some funding categories under consideration for inclusion include groups of students that charter schools may not be serving, such as Medicaid fees for EC students or PreK funding. Current law already allows charters to be reimbursed directly if they are participating in such programs. 

Public charter school advocates insist charter campuses, which aren’t bound to the same standards for academics and teacher licensing as traditional public schools, are viable options and deserving of support.

“Public charter schools complement, rather than compete with, district schools,” Lindalyn Kakadelis, executive director of the North Carolina Coalition for Charter Schools, said in November. “We’re all part of the public school family.

“That charter schools saw yet another sizable increase in enrollment … hammers home the fact that parents both want and deserve options in public schooling. The reality is children have a better chance of reaching their full potential in a school environment that best suits their unique gifts. Sometimes that’s a district school, and sometimes that’s a public charter school.”

According to Public Schools First NC, of October 1, 2021, 204 charter schools enrolled 130,485 students in North Carolina. Approximately 8% of the state’s 1.55 million school children attend charter schools.

HB 219 would also allow counties to make capital funds available for charter schools, which district leaders say would further delay projects that have been long-deferred. Traditional public school advocates have long criticized shifting public funding to charters, which they say takes away increasingly scarce resources for basic needs including staff and programs.

“At a time when our state is running record surpluses and sitting on the largest fund balance in history, robbing Peter to pay Paul seems to only ensure a further erosion of traditional public schools to the detriment of 1.4 million North Carolina students,” Sneed said. 

Enrollment data released last year by the N.C. Department of Public Instruction shows that public charter schools grew by 6.4% between 2021 and 2022, and by 19.2% between 2019 and 2022.

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