Board Approves Nine Charter Schools

Special Report - March 2, 2012
At its March 1 meeting, the North Carolina State Board of Education (SBOE) approved the applications of nine new charter schools, which will be located in different parts of the state. As we have previously reported, the approval of the additional charter schools was made possible last year when the General Assembly voted to remove the 100 school cap on the number of charter schools, which had been in place for over a decade.

In September of 2011, the SBOE approved a “fast-track” option for charter schools that submitted an application to the Board prior to the General Assembly’s passage of SB 8—No Cap on Number of Charter Schools. The “fast track” option allowed those schools that were denied approval because of the cap the opportunity to open in August 2012, rather than having to wait until the following year.

Charter Schools that applied for “fast-track” approval were required to submit their application to the newly established North Carolina Public Charter School Advisory Council (NCPCSAC) by November 10, 2011. At a previous SBOE meeting, the NCPCSAC reviewed each of the submitted applications and submitted the list of schools they recommended for approval to the State Board for final consideration.

The nine new charters that were approved are as follows:

• Bear Grass Charter School (Martin County)
• Cornerstone Charter Academy (Guilford County)
• Corvian Community School (Mecklenburg County)
• North East Carolina Preparatory (Edgecombe County)
• Research Triangle High School (Durham County)
• The Howard and Lillian Lee Scholars Charter Academy (Orange County)
• The College Preparatory and Leadership Academy of High Point (Guilford County)
• Triangle Math and Science Academy (Wake County)
• Water’s Edge Village School (Currituck County)

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