North Carolina

North Carolina law does not place any caps on charter school growth.

North Carolina law allows new start-ups and public school conversions.

North Carolina law requires applicants to get approved by the North Carolina Charter Schools Advisory Board and the North Carolina State Board of Education.

North Carolina law requires the state board of education to review and evaluate the educational effectiveness of charter schools and the effect of charter schools on the public schools in the local school administrative unit in which the charter schools are located. It requires the state board to report annually no later than June 15 to the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee on the following: the current and projected impact of charter schools on the delivery of services by the public schools; student academic progress in the charter schools as measured, where available, against the academic year immediately preceding the first academic year of the charter schools' operation; best practices resulting from charter school operations; and other information the state board considers appropriate.
The ability of the state board of education to continue authorizing can be removed by the North Carolina legislature and governor (the entities that gave it that authority).

North Carolina provides funding for the Office of Charter Schools at the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, which serves as authorizing staff to the state board and others. The law also requires the state board of education to establish reasonable fees of no less than $500 for initial and renewal charter applications. The current application fee is $1,000.
The state law provides that a charter school is not required to enter into any other contract.

North Carolina law contains application elements for all schools. North Carolina law and regulation contains additional application elements specific to conversion schools and replications.
Although this information is not counted within this analysis (since these provisions are not codified in state law or state board policy), the application requires student performance, governance performance, and financial data from other schools managed by the management company and requires that the applicant must demonstrate how the management company is a good fit for the targeted student population. The application also specifically seeks information for charter school replications as to whether the proposed charter school is to be governed by an existing charter school board or a new board.

State board policy allows the board to approve a “fast track” application which grants permission for a charter board to replicate either its own successful model or to employ an educational management organization (EMO) or a charter management organization (CMO) to replicate a successful model currently being operated under the management of the EMO or CMO by foregoing the planning year normally required for newly-approved charter applicants.

State board polices offer additional requirements regarding the application process, including general approval criteria and application submission and approval timelines.

Although this information is not counted within this analysis (since these application provisions are not codified in state law or state board policy), a state department of education-created application refers to in-person interviews and meetings occurring for promising applicants and written evaluations of each complete application occurring against a detail standard rubric.

All state board meetings must be open to the public, meaning all charter applications must be reviewed and all approval and denial decisions must be made in a public meeting. The law doesn’t require authorizers to state reasons for denial in writing, though.

North Carolina law provides that a charter school must operate under the written charter contract signed by the authorizer and the applicant that incorporates the information provided in the application, as modified during the charter approval process, and any terms and conditions imposed on the charter school by the state board of education. It also provides that no other terms may be imposed on the charter school as a condition for receipt of local funds.
North Carolina law allows the state board of education to grant the initial charter for a period not to exceed five years and requires the state board of education to review the operations of each charter school at least at least once prior to the expiration of its charter to ensure that the school is meeting the expected academic, financial, and governance standards.

Although this information is not counted within this analysis (since these provisions are not codified in state law or state board policy), the state’s charter application includes many aspects of the model law’s charter contract requirements, including clear definitions regarding the roles, powers, and responsibilities for the school and its authorizer. In addition, each application must state the measureable academic goals of the schools.

State policies require charter schools to administer all state assessments and require the state department of public instruction to compile and publish the disaggregated results for each school and compare each school to the state’s average. North Carolina law requires charter schools to report at least annually to the state board of education the information required by the state board. It also requires charter schools to comply with the reporting requirements established by the state board of education in the Uniform Education Reporting System. However, performance data specific to other charter school goals are not annually collected, analyzed, and reported by the authorizer.
North Carolina law provides that charter schools are subject to the financial audits, the audit procedures, and the audit requirements adopted by the state board of education for charter schools, which may include the requirements of the School Budget and Fiscal Control Act.

North Carolina law and state board policies allow the state board of education to review the operations of each charter school annually to ensure that the school is meeting the expected academic, financial, and governance standards.

State board policies provide additional authorizer authority to conduct or require oversight activities and detailed processes dealing with any financial or governance noncompliance issues, including authorizer notification to the schools of perceived problems along with opportunities to remedy such problems and the ability for the authorizer to take appropriate corrective actions.

State board policies offer renewal application guidance and detail a renewal process which requires schools to apply for renewal by completing their portion of the North Carolina Charter Schools Renewal Report, including a self-study that allows them to present evidence of success and progress towards the goals as outlined in the charter application and contract. State board policies require the state department of public instruction to compile its portion of the renewal report, which includes various performance data collected by the authorizer.
North Carolina law allows the state board of education to terminate, not renew, or seek applicants to assume the charter through a competitive bid process established by the state board upon any of the following grounds: failure to meet the requirements for student performance contained in the charter; failure to meet generally accepted standards of fiscal management; violations of law; material violation of any of the conditions, standards, or procedures set forth in the charter; two thirds of the faculty and instructional support personnel at the school request that the charter be terminated or not renewed; or other good cause identified.

The law notes that the state board of education shall identify low-performing charter schools on an annual basis, with such schools being those that receive a school performance grade of D or F and a school growth score of "met expected growth" or "not met expected growth." The board shall also identify continually low-performing charter schools on an annual basis, with such school being a charter school that has been designated by the state board as low-performing for at least two of three consecutive years.
The law also notes that If a charter school is continually low-performing, the state board is authorized to terminate, not renew, or seek applicants to assume the charter through a competitive bid process established by the state board. However, the state board shall not terminate or not renew the charter of a continually low-performing charter school solely for its continually low-performing status if the charter school has met growth in each of the immediately preceding three school years or if the charter school has implemented a strategic improvement plan approved by the State Board and is making measurable progress toward student performance goals.
State board policy requires the authorizer to inform a charter school up for renewal about potential concerns and allows that the school may be asked to create a corrective action plan, with such action plan completed prior to the last year of the contract.
At the end of a school’s charter term, North Carolina law provides that the state board of education shall renew the charter for 10 years if the charter has provided financially sound audits for the prior three years, academic outcomes for the past three years have been comparable to the academic outcomes in the local school district where the charter is located, the charter is, at the time of the request for renewal of the charter, substantially in compliance with state law, federal law, or the school’s own bylaws or the provisions set forth in the school’s charter. The law also requires the state board of education to review the operations of each charter school at least once every five years to ensure that the school is meeting the expected academic, financial, and governance standards.

All state board meetings must be open to the public, meaning all charter renewal, non-renewal, and revocation decisions must be made in a public meeting. The law does not require authorizers to state reasons for non-renewals and revocations in writing, though.

North Carolina law requires that upon dissolution of the charter school or upon the nonrenewal of the charter, all net assets of the charter school purchased with public funds shall be deemed the property of the local school administrative unit in which the charter school is located. State board policy adds further details to this process and also addresses the integrity of the school’s data and transcripts.

North Carolina law is generally silent regarding these arrangements, but the state attorney general has ruled that all types of educational service providers may operate all or parts of charter schools.
North Carolina law requires the board of directors of a charter school to adopt a conflict of interest and anti-nepotism policy that includes, at a minimum, the following:
* The requirements of Chapter 55A of the General Statutes related to conflicts of interest;
* A requirement that before any immediate family, as defined in state law, of any member of the board of directors or a charter school employee with supervisory authority shall be employed or engaged as an employee, independent contractor, or otherwise by the board of directors in any capacity, such proposed employment or engagement shall be (i) disclosed to the board of directors and (ii) approved by the board of directors in a duly called open?session meeting. The burden of disclosure of such a conflict of interest shall be on the applicable board member or employee with supervisory authority. If the requirements of this subsection are complied with, the charter school may employ immediate family of any member of the board of directors or a charter school employee with supervisory authority.
* A requirement that a person shall not be disqualified from serving as a member of a charter school's board of directors because of the existence of a conflict of interest, so long as the person's actions comply with the school's conflict of interest policy established as provided in this subsection and applicable law.

The law requires that similar criminal history record checks and fingerprinting requirements applicable to other public schools shall also be mandatory for on-site employees of ESPs who regularly come into contact with students.

Although this information is not counted within this analysis (since these provisions are not codified in state law or state board policy), the application requires student performance, governance performance, and financial data from other schools managed by the management company and requires that the applicant must demonstrate how the management company is a good fit for the targeted student population. It requires that the proposed management agreement must be provided with the application (and approved by the authorizer), with such agreement including at least the measureable objectives whereby the charter school board can evaluate annually the performance of the management company, and if necessary, terminate the contract without significant obstacles.

The application must also discuss how the charter school board will govern the school independently of the management company and include a description of the relationship that exists between the charter school employees and the management organization. Elsewhere in the application, the applicant must describe the board’s ethical standards and procedures for identifying and addressing conflicts of interest, including the identification of any existing relationships that could pose actual or perceived conflicts if the application was approved and steps that the board will take to avoid any actual conflicts and to mitigate perceived conflicts.

Furthermore, the state board’s charter contract contains the following provisions: no member of the governing board shall be an employee of a company that provides substantial services to the charter school; the members of the nonprofit board of directors affirm that they will adhere to a duly adopted conflict of interest policy, including provisions related to nepotism; the nonprofit shall have ultimate responsibility for employment, management, dismissal and discipline of its employees and in no event shall the governing board delegate or assign its responsibility for fulfilling terms of this charter; the nonprofit shall not enter into or terminate an agreement for comprehensive management services without the prior, explicit approval of the state board; the nonprofit shall comply with all state board requests regarding the management agreement that are reasonably related to compliance with all provisions of this charter agreement and the charter school statute.

North Carolina law provides all of the model law's requirements for fiscally and legally autonomous schools with independent charter school boards.

North Carolina law requires charters to provide open enrollment to any student in the state.
The law notes that schools cannot limit admission on the basis of intellectual ability, measures of achievement or aptitude, athletic ability, disability, race, creed, national origin, religion, or ancestry.

North Carolina law provides that conversion charter schools must give preference in the admissions process to students who reside within the former attendance area of that school.

It also specifies that within one year after a charter school begins operation, the charter school must make efforts for the population of the school to reasonably reflect the racial and ethnic composition of the general population residing in the local school administrative unit in which the school is located or the racial and ethnic composition of the special population that the school seeks to serve residing in the local school administrative unit in which the school is located. The law subjects a charter school to any court ordered desegregation plan in effect for the local school administrative unit.

The law allows a charter school to give enrollment priority to siblings of currently enrolled students who were admitted to the charter school in a previous year or the current year, siblings of students who have completed the highest grade level offered by that school and who were enrolled in at least four grade levels offered by the charter school or, if less than four grades are offered, in the maximum number of grades offered by the charter school, a student who was enrolled in the charter school within the two previous school years but left the school to participate in an academic study abroad program or a competitive admission residential program or because of the vocational opportunities of the student’s parent, and a student enrolled in another charter school the previous year, a student who was enrolled in another charter school in the state in the previous school year that does not offer the student’s next grade level and both of the charter schools have an enrollment articulation agreement to accept students or are governed by the same board of directors, and domiciliaries of the municipality (if the charter school is operated by a municipality). It also allows a charter school to give enrollment priority to children of the school's full-time employees or those working full-time in the school (including those employed by a charter or educational management organization) and to children of the charter school's board of directors – so long as these children are limited to no more than fifteen percent of the school’s total enrollment unless a waiver is granted by the state board of education.

If a procedure for a weighted lottery reflecting the mission of the school has been approved by the state board of education as part of the charter and a lottery is needed at the school, the law allows a charter to use a weighted lottery.

North Carolina law requires charter schools to hold lotteries if too many students seek enrollment in the school.

North Carolina law states that except as provided in the state's charter school law and pursuant to the provisions of its charter, a charter school is exempt from statutes and rules applicable to a local school board or school district unless the law explicitly states that it also applies to charter schools.
North Carolina law states that at least 50% of a charter school’s teachers must hold teacher licenses, whether they are employed by the school or by the education management company on contract with the school.

In North Carolina, it is illegal for teachers to engage in collective bargaining. In addition, charter school teachers are not subject to any school district work rules.The law provides that charter school teachers are not subject to school district work rules.

North Carolina state board polices include a definition of a charter school that is to be used in determining whether the status of a charter school or charter school applicant is either one school or actually more than one school and indicates that multiple schools may be approved for funding once such determination is made. In addition, although this information is not counted within this analysis (since these provisions are not codified in state law or state board policy), the application specifically seeks information for charter school replications as to whether the proposed charter school is to be governed by an existing charter school board or a new board. Thus, there are some vague references in state policy to these issues, although nothing specifically indicates that such schools must have independent fiscal and academic accountability for each school.

North Carolina law is silent about charter eligibility and access.

North Carolina law contains a small number of the model law’s provisions regarding special education responsibilities.
North Carolina law provides that the state board of education must allocate to each charter school: an amount equal to the average per pupil allocation for average daily membership from the local school administrative unit allotments in which the charter school is located for each child attending the charter school except for the allocation for children with disabilities and for the allocation for children with limited English proficiency; an additional amount for each child attending the charter school who is a child with disabilities; and an additional amount for children with limited English proficiency attending the charter school, based on a formula adopted by the state board.

Although this information is not counted within this analysis (since these provisions are not codified in state law or state board policy), the state board’s charter application makes it clear that a public charter school cannot deny admission to any child eligible for special education services and that the school is required to provide a full continuum of services to meet the unique needs of all students with disabilities and the state board’s charter contract designates the charter school as the LEA for purposes of meeting special education requirements pursuant to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

North Carolina law provides that the state board of education must allocate to each charter school: an amount equal to the average per pupil allocation for average daily membership from the local school administrative unit allotments in which the charter school is located for each child attending the charter school; an additional amount for each child attending the charter school who is a child with disabilities; and an additional amount for children with limited English proficiency attending the charter school, based on a formula adopted by the state board.

North Carolina law provides that if a student attends a charter school, the local school administrative unit in which the child resides must transfer to the charter school an amount equal to the per pupil share of the local current expense fund of the local school administrative unit for the fiscal year.

The law establishes the Charter School Transportation Grant Program. The purpose of the program shall be to award grant funds to charter school that has student enrollment of at least fifty percent of its students residing in households with an income level not in excess of the amount required for a student to qualify for the federal free or reduced-price lunch program. The program provides for the reimbursement of up to sixty-five percent of the eligible student transportation costs incurred by the school. The total amount of each grant awarded under the program shall not exceed $100,000 per charter school per school year. In 2021, the state provided $2.5 million to this program.
In a national study of charter school funding (University of Arkansas, Charter School Funding: Inequity Expands, 2014), North Carolina charter schools were receiving on average $7,829 per pupil in public funds, while traditional public schools would have received $9,643 for those students. As a result, the state's charter schools were receiving $1,814 per pupil – or 18.8% - less than what the traditional public schools would have received for those students. This figure includes all sources of funding, and analysis reveals some significant inequities for both operational and capital funding (see component #19 for information on capital issues).

North Carolina law provides that at the request of a charter school, a local board of education of the local school administrative unit in which the charter school will be located shall lease any available building or land to the charter school unless the board demonstrates that the lease is not economically or practically feasible or that the local board does not have adequate classroom space to meet its enrollment needs.
The law also allows a local board of education to provide a school facility to a charter school free of charge; however, the charter school is responsible for the maintenance of and insurance for the school facility. The law also states that if a charter school has requested to lease available buildings or land and is unable to reach an agreement with the local board of education, the charter school shall have the right to appeal to the board of county commissioners in which the building or land is located. The board of county commissioners shall have the final decision-making authority on the leasing of the available building or land.

North Carolina law provides that charter schools are eligible for tax-exempt bond financing through the North Carolina Capital Facilities Finance Authority.

Legislation enacted in 2020 now allows the State Superintendent of Public Instruction to approve the issuance of one or more private activity bonds to finance or refinance a charter school facility.

North Carolina law provides charter schools access to the relevant employee retirement systems, but does not require them to participate.

North Carolina law does not include any of the model law’s provisions regarding full-time virtual charter schools.