School Choice in North Carolina: A Complicated Battle for the Preservation of Liberty

People protest during a Panel for Educational Policy meeting at Brooklyn Tech High School before they vote on whether to close or partially close 23 schools that the Department of Education considers failing on February 9, 2012 in New York City. Source.

America is often advertised as the land of freedom, opportunity, and liberty. Charter schools in particular are seen as a key market innovation to foster these ideals: “incubators of innovation in neighborhoods across our country. The call to expand the liberty of school choice is on the rise:in  the years between 2008 to 2014, charter school enrollment rose from 2.8% of the national student population to over 5%. 

With the perceived failure of public schools, it’s clear that many North Carolinians have turned towards alternative educational institutions: charter schools and private schools. This topic is one of the most pressing issues facing the two candidates for North Carolina Superintendent, Democrat Jen Mangum and Republican Catherine Truitt. Mangum is championing the prioritization “of fundin… [for] traditional public schools to ensure that they remain the best alternative,” as she seeks to uphold the traditional standing of public schools as a trustworthy institution of the state. However, Truitt, over her career, has “come to believe that charter schools can and should exist wherever there is a desire to create one.” Furthermore, Truitt supports closing down underperforming public schools, but her same qualifiers extend to charter schools as well. Ultimately, this election for the NC superintendent’s seat will determine the future of the NC educational system, and quite possibly the future of North Carolina as a whole.

While some oppose voucher-programs for private-schools, there is some evidence that there is a positive impact of students attending a private high school on graduation rate, and this varies from anywhere to an increase of 4% to 21% in retention rate for the low-income voucher students enrolled.  However, the evidence for students attending charter schools remains mixed with negligible to somewhat promising rates of retention and college enrollment. Given the evidence that, at the very least, school choice poses no risk to individual student achievement, one could easily see the appeal of allowing school choice to exist. One main piece of the puzzle remains unsolved though: do government funded school vouchers and publicly funded charter schools threaten the prosperity of traditional public schools?

Several studies across the nation have documented the case of charter schools encroaching upon school districts served by traditional public schools. In these studies, up to half of the student population in public schools in San Diego and Los Angeles were lost due to competing charter schools attracting students. When this occurred, schools that were originally at full capacity across the district were stuck with half enrollment, but still maintained the same building maintenance and operating costs from when there was full enrollment. These schools were forced to either cut teachers or staff, skimp on supplies, or even close a school within the district altogether, resulting in crowded classrooms in the remaining schools. In 2014-2015, 210 000 students attended schools nationwide which were closed at the end of that year, according to the federal government. Many of these schools were seen as historical and integral institutions within these communities. The shock that many of these students faced, due to closure, is immeasurable, for with each school that closed, entire relationships between students and teachers were ripped away, at the benefit of the charter school program. 

While the damage caused by charter schools may seem insurmountable, charter schools do typically result in a more racially diverse setting that many students find appealing and in which they thrive. Charter schools also typically have smaller class sizes, with over 50% of charter schools having less than 300 students enrolled, and studies show lower-income students often excel at a higher level in a more personalized learning environment.

Ultimately, the results are conflicting on the benefits and drawbacks of charter schools, much like public schools are a mixed bag, and only future policy can ensure they remain a somewhat equitable and viable alternative that works in conjunction with the institution of public education without crippling it further. With two candidates that stand on opposite ends of the political spectrum, North Carolninans will decide between increased funding to state funded schools as Jen Mangum supports, or the option of choice under the leadership of Catherine Truitt and hope this new system continues to spark innovation across the state without costing the state its future.