A Charter Diary: North Carolina's Second 100 Charter Schools

From the Introduction The Charter Schools Act of 1996, House Bill 955, authorizing North Carolina to have up to one hundred charter schools, was the culmination of a compromise deal between Republicans and Democrats, finalized as the clock struck midnight, June 21, 1996. It was the last day of the General Assembly before adjournment. The GOP sweep of American politics in 1994 was buoyed by a Republican policy manifesto called the “Contract with America.” It helped propel Republicans to earn a majority in the NC House of Representatives for a brief time, the first majority it had since the Civil War. Democrats seized a House majority back the very next year and were not sympathetic with charters then, nor today. Had the bill not passed that Raleigh summer night, while the House Republicans had the stage, there may not have been the first one hundred charter schools in North Carolina to write about! Just as I retired from the Senate at the end of 2010, Republicans gained control of the General Assembly, this time both the Senate and the House. Within seven months they passed Richard Stevens’ Senate Bill 8, removing the 100-charter-school limit, freeing those supporting school choice to apply for and operate new schools, unencumbered by an artificial ceiling. Governor Beverly Perdue signed the bill into law June 17, 2011, just four days short of fifteen years from the date the first hundred were authorized. The second one hundred charters, “Generation 2,” didn’t just appear overnight! The applicant schools faced new and stronger challenges by the education monolith than the first one hundred schools, and surprisingly, more challenges from the State Board of Education, the Office of Charter Schools, and the charter advisory bodies. The thought of there being no limit, as opposed to the original bill controlling their number, signaled a potentially unbridled threat, whereas, the first one hundred were securely tethered by law. About the Author Eddie Goodall is a former state senator and CPA. He was the President of the North Carolina Alliance for Public Charter Schools, and in that capacity became the first fulltime charter advocate in North Carolina. Later he founded the NC Public Charter Schools Association, where he served as Executive Director. Goodall, with many others, helped double the number of charters in North Carolina. He has been a founding board member of four schools, beginning in 1999, and currently manages Goodall Consulting, which provides accounting and other business support services for charters across the state. In 2018, he was given a “Lifetime Achievement Award” by the Association for his service to charter schools. Read more