New Address!

Don't forget to check out our new blog, NC Charter Chat.

Fast Track a Narrow Lane

Small is the gate and narrow the road...and only a few shall find it



As expected the State Board of Education approved the new "fast track" charter approval policy at its September 1st meeting. The Raleigh News & Observer reported on that development here. While the new policy is fine as far as it goes, don't expect to see new charter schools popping up like Starbucks in the nineties. The new policy may create a straight and narrow path, but few will be able to follow it.

According to the N&O report the office of charter schools is saying that there are six charter applications from last year that are eligible for fast track consideration. That's not a lot of schools, but it's apparently too many for board member Jean Woolard, who was quoted by the N&O as saying "I'm a little bit wary about proceeding so rapidly."

Ms. Woolard is one of the board members governor Perdue would like to re-appoint to the board, and the General Assembly is scheduled to consider her nomination in its 'appointments bill' next week. Perhaps our legislative leadership should be "a little bit wary about proceeding so rapidly" with Ms. Woolard's nomination. After all, why should they rush to appoint to an eight-year term on the state board of education an NCAE activist who sees a problem with allowing the board to merely consider adding six charter schools a year?

Also on Charter Guy's radar are the comments towards the end of the article about buses and bus safety. The article points out that buses used by charter schools are not subject to the same safety regulations as buses at district schools,clearly implying that charter school buses are less safe. It quotes Derek Graham, section chief of transportation services for DPI, as saying the 183 buses and 24 vans now being used by charter schools makes him "cringe." The article goes on to say that the new North Carolina public charter school advisory council will be asked (by the board, presumably) to "review the issue."

Of course any bus or van used by a charter school to transport students must be in good condition and operated in a safe manner. But readers will recall that transportation, or lack of it, was one of the phony issues crafted by the guardians of the failing status quo to derail the charter school bill in the last session of the General Assembly. Don't be surprised if certain members of the council push for a recommendation to the board that all charter-owned vehicles used to transport students be required to meet costly new requirements. And if they are successful in that effort, to follow up with a recommendation that all charter schools purchase vehicles to provide comprehensive student transportation.

New Address!

Well we're moving on up...



Charter Nation has a new name and a new web address, one which more closely reflects its mission and should be easier to find.   From now on, we are NC Charter Chat.  Our new web address is below:

www.nccharterchat.blogspot.com

Go ahead and hit the link, and bookmark it once you get there.  I'll keep this one up and running concurrently for the time being, but once everyone's made the switch Charter Nation may just evolve into something else. 

State Board to discuss charters

The State Board of Education will hold its annual planning session Sunday August 28 through Tuesday August 30th, at the Sheraton Downtown in Raleigh.  This meeting was not announced on the SBE website, but is open to the public. 

On Monday the 29th at 3pm Philip Price is scheduled to brief the board on charter schools.  He's only been alloted thirty minutes, but his comments could give us an overview of where the board wants to go with charter schools over the next year. 

New Charters in 2012?

Could it really be...?



The Raleigh News & Observer reports today that the State Board of Education might actually consider allowing a few new charter schools to open their doors in the fall of 2012 after all.  Heres' the link:

http://projects.newsobserver.com/node/22710

Believe it or not, they may actually be serious about this.  A plan for reviewing 'fast track' charter school applications has been written and is on the board's agenda for the August 31-September 1 meeting.  You can see the plan here: 

http://www.ncpublicschools.org/docs/stateboard/meetings/2011/09/lfi/09lfi01.pdf

In brief, the idea is to have the newly formed Public Charter School Advisory Council review existing applications that would have been approved last go-around, had there been no cap, and make recommendations to the board as to which of these should be approved for 2012.  Existing schools that want to convert to charters would also be allowed to submit fast track applications, as would currently successful charter schools that wanted to replicate or spin off another campus. 

There are a lot of things that could still derail this move, of course, starting with the board's discussion and vote next week.  As anyone who has spent any time observing the operations of the board knows, very little of substance ever happens in an open board meeting; the real decisions having already been made in private beforehand.  And of course, the advisory council that would have to review all the applications doesn't actually exist yet, so...yeah. 

Still, this is the best charter news to come from the state board since...well, it's the only good charter news that Charter Guy can ever remember coming from the board.

Constitutional Math: 8 > 4

More changes afoot?

During the recently concluded session of the General Assembly there was a lot of talk about amending the North Carolina Constitution to overhaul the way public education is governed.  Representative Bryan Holloway (R-Rockingham & Stokes) introduced a bill that would do just that, but after a few hearings and amendments the project was slipped onto the back burner.  The idea was that Holloway's bill (HB823) would be taken up during the special session that the legislative leadership planned in Spetember for consideration of constitutional amendments. 

Now comes a report from Carolina Journal about the September session, and the amendment on public education governance doesn't get a mention:

Politicos Brace for Down-and-Dirty Amendment Fight in September 
http://www.carolinajournal.com/exclusives/display_exclusive.html?id=8146

If the leadership has given up on the idea, it's probably just as well.  Holloway's original plan was just to make the Superintendent of Public Instruction a full member of the board and give her control over all state-level appointments of administrative and supervisory education personnel.  The bill as amended does that, but (and here's the rub) it also removes the General Assembly's power to confirm the governor's appointments to the State Board of Education. 

True, the amended bill gives the GA four appointments of its own, reducing the governor's appointees to eight (from the current eleven).  But eight is still a voting majority of the board's membership of 15 (the State Treasurer and Lieutenant Governor are also members), thus leaving an anti-charter governor in a position to lay a lot of land mines for charter schools during her term.  Too many for Charter Guy's comfort, anyway.  The bill would also reduce the current eight-year term of state school board members to a more reasonable six--a good thing, in Charter Guy's opinion. 

It's hard to imagine why any legislative body would willingly surrender its power to determine who will constitute the majority of an important policy-making board.  And to trade that power for a measly four seats seems like the kind of deal made by one who doesn't understand the equation 8>4. 

If this bill resurfaces during the September session, let us hope that the leadership brushes up on some basic math first.

Meet the new board, same as the old board

The old guy

The new guy



Governor Beverly Perdue has finally submitted the names of her nominees to fill the vacant expired spots on the State Board of Education.  Loyal readers will recall that the terms of two of the board's district representatives expired back in March, but those members have continued to serve due to a quirk in the law that the Perdue administration believes somehow trumps the Constitution's defined eight-year terms (see, "What's that smell?  SBE appointees WAY past their expiration dates," charternation, August 7th).  Board Chairman Bill Harrison's term also expired in March, yet he gavels on.

So to replace State Education District One's Jean Wooland the governor has chosen--Jean Wooland.  And to replace Chairman Bill Harrison, the guv's pick is--Bill Harrison.  Only district seven's Tom Speed is actually rotating off.  If Perdue gets her way, William Woltz would take his place (more about him in the coming days). 

After all, why change personnel when things are going so swimmingly (cough, cough, EOGs, cough, cough)?

The legislature is scheduled to consider these appointments during its September mini-session, and if they are approved the three anti-charter amigos would serve until 2019 (eight year terms, remember?).  That's six and one-half years into the administration of any pro-charter governor who might possibly be elected to replace Perdue in November of 2012. 

On the other hand, suppose the legislature doesn't vote to approve them?  Maybe they just leave those names and positions out of the appointment bill, just lets them continue to serve, waiting to see what happens on election day?  Then a new governor could nominate replacements upon taking office in January of 2013, get some people of his own choosing on the board right away...just say'n. 

Pat McCrory, are you out there?  Might want to give Speaker Tillis and Senate President Berger a call.