The Senate approved a bill that would restore about $11 million a year in local funding to charter schools across the state.
The provision was included in a bill, sponsored by Sen. Jerry Tillman, R-Randolph, that makes modifications to North Carolina’s charter school laws.
A proposal known as the Hackney/Nesbitt amendment allowed some local money to be omitted from a formula used to calculate per-pupil expenditures that follow students to charter schools. The bill passed by the Senate on Wednesday would reverse that.
Darrell Allison, president of Parents for Educational Freedom in North Carolina, had this to say about the bill:
“For nearly a decade, local districts have been denying public charter school children critical funds they need for their education. We have asked our state’s lawmakers to go back to the way things were in 1996 when local money would follow a child no matter which public school the child attended. Since the law changed, children in our state have been shortchanged simply for choosing to attend public charter schools. Why should their education be less valuable if they attend a public charter school? We are focused on funding children, not school systems solely.”
The bill passed by a 35-14 vote. It now goes to the House.
