Thirty-five nonprofit boards submitted applications to open public charter schools in August 2020. A listing of applicants is available on the N.C. Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) Office of Charter Schools’ website .
October 1 was the deadline to submit an application through the Office of Charter Schools’ automated application system. Each charter school applicant was required to pay a $1,000 application fee and perform criminal background checks on its proposed board members in addition to providing a detailed description of its proposed school’s mission and plan to meet that mission for students.
The Office of Charter Schools will review the applications for completeness before forwarding them to the N.C. Charter Schools Advisory Board (CSAB). The CSAB will use an established structure, including external evaluators and applicant interviews, to review the applications. At the conclusion of this process, the CSAB will recommend applicants to the State Board of Education for approval.
North Carolina currently has 185 charter schools open for students. An additional eight schools received a favorable report in August from the State Board of Education to begin a planning year for preparation to open in August 2019. During the 2018 application year, seven schools were granted a one-year delay in opening by the State Board of Education. These 15 schools, once all open, will bring the state’s total number of charter schools to 200.
Charter schools are public schools operated by nonprofit boards. The schools have open enrollment and no tuition is charged to attend. Tax dollars are the primary funding source for charter schools.
Visit the N.C. Office of Charter Schools’ website for more information.
About the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction:
The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction provides leadership to 115 local public school districts and 160 charter schools serving over 1.5 million students in kindergarten through high school graduation. The agency is responsible for all aspects of the state's public school system and works under the direction of the North Carolina State Board of Education.