The State Board of Education (SBE) approved six new charter schools today, but the process was noteworthy because it was unorthodox.
Two SBE members, John Tate and Michelle Howard-Vital did not like the list of charter schools recommended for approval by the Charter School Advisory Committee (CSAC), the committee responsible for evaluating charter school applications. They decided to do something about it. Tate has been openly campaigning for the KIPP: Charlotte Charter School for the last two months, even forcing a closed session after he excused himself in the middle of a SBE meeting to confer with a group of KIPP advocates. Howard-Vital advocated for the Wilmington Preparatory Academy Charter School at yesterday?s meeting. Neither school was on CSAC?s list of schools recommend for approval, but both received State Board of Education approval today, along with four other charter schools that were on the list.
First, it is clear that the Charter School Advisory Committee is irrelevant, because all one needs is friends in high places to get an application approved. More importantly, this posturing would have been unnecessary if the charter school cap exceeded 100 schools. Then, the SBE could have just approved all nine of the charter schools that both applied and qualified for open slots.
On the bright side, this episode suggests that some members of the State Board of Education are passionate advocates of charter schools. If only Tate and Howard-Vital would redirect that passion to try to lift the charter school cap, our schools would all be better off.
