NC Appeals Court to Weigh Charter School Funding (NC)

February 9, 2011

A state appeals court on Wednesday will consider a charter school’s lawsuit arguing that its funding share should be calculated from a pie that includes Head Start and other early childhood education funds.

North Carolina’s Court of Appeals is scheduled to hear arguments in a lawsuit by Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy, a Rutherford County school that enrolls about 1,100 students ranging from kindergarten to 12th grade.

A ruling is weeks or months away, but the arguments come at a time when the state General Assembly, now led by Republicans for the first time in more than a century, plans to remove limits imposed since the alternative public schools were created 14 years ago.

"We just look forward to equity in funding for public school students in North Carolina," academy headmaster Joe Maimone said this week.

Charter schools are public schools that are run by private boards and exempt from many rules imposed on traditional public schools. They have open enrollment, don’t charge tuition and are funded with taxpayer money.

The academy contends that in the past four years the Rutherford County school board should have calculated the share of state funds it is entitled to receive by including money to run Head Start, Smart Start, More at Four and other programs aiming to help at-risk children. A t stake are more than $900,000 the school said it was shortchanged.

"Given that charter schools are public schools and that the Legislature intended charter schools to ‘be treated as public schools,’ the funding statute’s requirement that charter schools receive an amount equal to the per pupil share of all current expense moneys is wholly reasonable," the academy’s attorney, Richard Vinroot, wrote in a court filing.

Vinroot, a former Charlotte mayor and three-time Republican candidate for governor, declined comment before presenting his case to the appeals court.

Attorneys for the school board and the North Carolina School Boards Association argue that’s unfair since the charter school doesn’t offer the early education programs. Giving the charter school a slice of the early childhood funds would give Thomas Jefferson students greater per-pupil funding than traditional public schools.

"What school system would voluntarily provide services to at-risk kids if there were a financial penalty," Chris Campbell, an attorney for the Rutherford school board, said Tuesday. "This is money that is restricted by the state and federal governments. Charter schools are also free to apply for this money."

Wednesday’s court hearing comes the same day a Senate committee considers legislation that would remove the 100-school statewide limit on the number of charter schools.

Last week, Senate Republicans proposed sweeping changes to allow charter schools get funds from counties and state lottery proceeds to buy land and buildings, and establish a commission outside the public school establishment to oversee the schools.

Charter school advocat es say the 100-school cap in place since the alternative schools were created in 1996 has meant that 53 of North Carolina’s 100 counties don’t have charter schools, leaving more than 20,000 families on waiting lists.