Charter School NEWS                  

House Bill 1023, signed into law Aug. 30 by Gov. Mike Easley, currently doesn’t include language to include the 100 state charter schools for capital repair funds.

"It’s extremely unfair," said Susan Smith, principal of Cape Lookout Marine Science High School in Morehead City, who has written letters to legislators. "All schools should be included. We’re all in the same business — educating children."

Nearly 29,000 students statewide are in charter schools, with 359 in Carteret, either at the Cape Lookout School or the Tiller School in Beaufort.

"It doesn’t seem equitable to leave out 29,000 public school students," said Jean Kruft, Tiller School principal.

Through specific language — or lack thereof — the lottery bill doesn’t fund charter schools in the same way it does regular public schools because the 1996 law establishing charter schools says they are not to receive capital funding from the state.

The lottery bill sets aside funds for school construction projects, higher education scholarships and Gov. Easley’s More at Four preschool program.

Charter schools are public schools that are free from much of the governmental controls in traditional public schools.

Ms. Kruft, who oversees two campuses serving students in grades kindergarten through eight, has sent letters to both N.C. Sen. Scott Thomas, D-Craven, whose district includes Carteret, and Rep. Jean Preston, R-Carteret.

While she has mixed feelings about the lottery, she does want charter schools to get a fair shake when the lottery revenues come in.

"I don’t know that I necessarily agree with it (the lotter), but if we’re going to have it then the money should be fairly distributed."

Neither Sen. Thomas or Rep. Preston returned phone calls by presstime. Sen. Thomas had voted for the lottery and Rep. Preston voted against.

Cape Lookout, which serves 131 students, is in the Charles S. Wallace Building in Morehead City, which was built in 1929. Because of the poor condition of the school Ms. Smith has been looking for another location for nearly two years.

The exclusion of charter schools in the lottery bill just adds to her frustration.

"When there was talk of the lottery I was excited and thought it would help us, and then I found out that charter schools were excluded," she said. "I’m afraid if we don’t get some help we will eventually have to vacate the building and close the school doors."

Ms. Kruft believes the exclusion was an oversight in the legislation and is hopeful something will be done to correct it.

"I really don’t believe most of our legislators would exclude some of our public school students," she said. "It was just in the wording of the law. But unless legislators take a step to change it, the reality will be that charter school students will never see a cent of that money."

The Tiller School just completed construction of a $360,000 classroom building on its Beaufort campus, which serves grades K-5. It was paid for through a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) loan. Ms. Kruft said she would use lottery proceeds to help pay off the loan.

Tiller’s middle school operates in the Morehead City Parks and Recreation Center on 17th Street.

Ms. Smith said she has checked into getting a USDA loan, but the school doesn’t qualify for enough to buy both a piece of property and a building.

One North Carolina legislator, Rep. Winkie Wilkins, D-Person, was quoted in The Courier-Times as saying he didn’t realize that charter schools were left out of the lottery proceeds. He said if there was support for it, he would introduce a bill to include charter schools, if the current legislation is not amended.

He has asked the Department of Public Instruction’s research lawyers to look at the language of the lottery bill and the original charter school legislation to see if the lottery funds could be directed to all public schools.

While there are still questions as to how much and when public schools will see actual money from lottery proceeds, some estimates put it between $75 to $80 per student, depending on the wealth of the school district.