Refuting The Myths About Public Charter Schools

Family policy matters in engaging and informative weekly radio show and podcast produced by the North Carolina family policy. This is John Ralston presidency family and were grateful to have you with us for this week's program is our prayer that you will be encouraged and inspired by what you hear on family policy matters and that she will flow better equipped to be a voice of persuasion for family values in your community, state and nation, and now here's our host family policy matters Tracy to veterans. Thanks for joining us this week for family policy matter. Carolina has been making a name for itself in recent years as a leader in this choice movement to give parents more options and more access to the diversity of academic environments for their children. However, school choices constantly under attack by those who believe it is not good for the overall education system of all students in our state will today were to focus on one aspect of school choice and that is North Carolina's public charter schools which are beginning their 22nd year in existence in 2011 lawmakers did away with the cap on the number of public charter schools allowed in North Carolina leading to a surge in the number of charters opening across the state. Last year, more than 111,000 students represented by more than 7% of North Carolina's total student population attended a public charter school were pleased to be joined today by Rhonda dilling hand she's a veteran educator who now serves as Executive Director of the North Carolina Association for public charter schools and working to discuss this piece of North Carolina's education puzzle. Rhonda welcome to family policy matters may great to be here will start by clarifying exactly what a public charter school is and how does it differ from traditional public schools schools are public schools offered by the state Board of Education. There are of course tuition free and there's school good choice, meaning that families choose them for their children.

They operate with freedom from some of the regulations that are imposed upon district will that they are accountable for academic results for upholding the promises made in their charter document. Of course they are required to demonstrate performance in academic achievement, financial management, even organizational ability and charter school to meet those performance goal was charter school district school is the funding charter school did not blending their facility will have to find the money in the operating budget. While we sometimes say they plan to do more with less so in the school choice, landscape, public charter schools, though, are one of the oldest kids on the block so to speak.

So give us a little brief history about public charter schools here in our state. So all public school law was passed in a bipartisan effort in 1996 and led to the wall to create 100 charter school as an academic option for families in our state and our legislative purposes that a charter school is required to at least one of the and this was established by the Gen. assembly.

Of course, charter school Was lifted in 2011 and the reason we have been taught in the first place was because there are 100 counties in the state and 100 public charter schools is what was allowed at the time but what we saw on one school per county, which might've been what was there, still probably about 30 some counties state still don't have a public charter school as an option, but there are some pockets of concentration on different areas of the state. So let's address some of the opposition. You guys have to fight to keep the ability to operate public charter schools in North Carolina.

Let's address each of these criticisms and see how you would respond to them something opposition is that we hear that they pull money from traditional public schools.

Well, earlier public charter school.

Don't get as much funding as you they don't get capital so they have to fund the money for their and their operating budgets, but is charter school are part of the public school system about an expense to me and you politely, but the funding should follow the student and B-12 in the argument that are left out.

So sometimes district could even end up with more money per pupil. As a result of the charter school doing in their district. Another issue that I like to address with the funding issue is you look ability so a charter school is by the state Board of Education is required to go through that board is required to go through an unpowered year of planning, which we called ready to open. Process make the addition of a charter school in a community or district predictable and the district can make adjustments to their budget accordingly. You know, often charter school scapegoat for the funding issue, but we need to keep in mind that this truth in Walnut punctuates for many reasons, not just the addition of a charter school. It could be changing home or a plant closing. For example, or even student mobility and the first to adopt a budget response to the external factors of long other things to keep in mind only think about that whole issue was also a weekly radio show and podcast Carolina family policy Council. This is just one of the many ways since he works to educate citizens across Mr. Alana about policy issues that impact families.

Our vision is to create a state or nation where God is on religious freedom sources family strong and life's cherished more information about his family and how you can help us to achieve this incredible vision for our state and nation. Visit our website and see family.org and see family.org and be sure to sign up to receive our email updates action alerts course reflection publication family North Carolina magazine. We also look for you to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, so when you talk about funding. Let's talk a little bit about similar argument that it makes existing schools more expensive to operate the funding at school but he hardly ever not attend the school. So for example all alternative school and enrolled high ratio of all you don't and better off financially and nationally look at what they nationally we found Walt charter school enrolled lower proportion of normality student low-income students and even student. Looking physically at when were talking about the students that were there. we can look back at the department of public charter school annual report from 2017 and 18 and rachel make an interesting note there that there's a lot of similarities between charter school and district school so for example, charter schools have 26% of black, compared with 25 per stamp and the district, school, and then similarly, 55% of white men charters compared to 48% in district then as far students with disabilities of our students with disabilities and charter schools compared to 12% in the district school so there are a lot of women there that the general public might not be aware of charter schools kind of tasked with trying to make their student population diverse and how do they do that are incurred not the demographics of their living and reeling in the best interest of the charter school to do that because we want to have with other spiky students in their community and i can think of one school and have a high population and that empire school that really reflected on their practices and they realized that i had that increase in their population so they really have gone out of their way to work those units and their families are included and understand that they are an important part of the success of that rule and that that their entire front office and bilingual every document that goes home is written in english as well as banish jeanette's part to america differently of the federal grant which is a federal grant that charter school can apply for and one of the requirements for school to conduct a weighted lottery will north carolina. we have tools that are conducting a weighted lottery. the weighted lottery simply means that it give a percentage of education with disadvantaged preference.

if the school has to conduct the lottery so north carolina got that addressing the make sure that our school versus people all cut so if the statistics don't uphold that. why do you think the criticism continues that charter schools lead to racial resegregation in communities well because there are some specific schools that might have a higher percentage a certain type of student.you know what consideration on the numbers that charter schools are schools of choice and that wealthy family have always been able to send their children to the best school that they could possibly afford. but we might come from families that don't have that type of wealth have been relegated to the failing school that are on their zip code and that means that the cost of: whatever you can afford on a home dictate the quality of their child's education and charter school disrupt that hold negative and not say give the opportunity for choice that we have to keep in mind that charter schools their levers their principal superintendent gordon. they understand that when students vote with their feet on so keep that accountable every single day to ensure that those units were given the high quality and possibly get an district school don't have to think that type of scrutiny. ensure that all schools whether there charter or district are serving all of north carolina students because the success of this study rests on the quality of education sees the future of public charter schools for north carolina excited about the future for our public charter school. all we have 14 new schools that will be open this year.

maybe in a couple of weeks for all the students and they communities and then 12 more schools have been approved to open in 2020 that those communities will have educational options available to them that the parents can choose from to meet you there student. the addition of these goals means that north carolina will be over 200 public charter schools in the state and i see the incredible positive for our state and something that we should be proud of for just about a time, but this will be go where listeners go to learn more about north carolina's public charter schools to invite the listeners. visit the north carolina association for public charter school website@inthepubliccharter.org Crapo, Rhonda Billingham, thank you so much for being with us on family policy matters, and especially for your commitment to help all North Carolina students find an educational option that works for them even listening to family calls. We hope you enjoyed the program to do it again next week to listen to the show online insulin more about NC families were to inform, encourage and inspire families across a lot of our website into family.org that's and see family.org. Thanks again for listening and may God bless you