N.C. Appeals Court upholds lower-court ruling in Rutherford County charter school funding dispute

A unanimous three-judge panel of the N.C. Court of Appeals has affirmed a trial court’s ruling that the Rutherford County public school system owes Thomas Jefferson Classical Academy charter school more than $730,000.

The charter school initially had sought more than $900,000, and both the charter school and district school system had appealed the July 2010 trial court ruling on various grounds. Appellate judges agreed with Superior Court Judge A. Robinson Hassell that the school system had shorted the charter school funds for the 2007, 2008, and 2009 budget years.