The Causes and Effects of NC Public School Neglect

North Carolina educators protest in Raleigh in March 2019. Source: WBTV

Decreased funding for public education in North Carolina is only one example of the much larger issue of school privatization. Yet, it is the most pressing because it directly affects students in the classroom. As legislators continue to view charter schools as an adequate alternative to traditional public schools, public schools across the state suffer. Research based on rural and urban school districts in North Carolina suggests that “charter schools generate negative fiscal externalities on public school districts to the degree that districts are unable to reduce spending in line with the revenue losses they experience as a result of charter schools without reducing services to the remaining public school students.” 

In other words, the financial burden charter schools incur for public school districts in North Carolina forces public schools to substantially cut back in areas like textbooks and instructional supplies. At a time when North Carolina frequently places in the bottom tier of national rankings in teacher pay, it is vital that public schools — which educate the majority of students in the state — be able to fully comply with the Supreme Court’s mandate in Leandro vs. North Carolina to provide a sound basic education which includes “equitable access to sufficient resources.”

Another possible consequence of charter schools is the prospect for a return to school segregation. Recent research shows that charter schools can promote “white flight” as they seemingly offer an alternative to traditional public schools, however they can also segregate based on ethnicity and income. It is much easier for these types of segregation to occur in charter schools because they are subject to fewer regulations and statutes than traditional public schools. The risk of segregation should be of major concern to legislators and charter school advocates when addressing any legislation concerning charter schools. 

Charter schools rapidly expanded throughout the state and in 2012, one year after the cap was removed, the number of students enrolled in charter schools more than doubled. This decade saw many attempts by the majority Republican state legislature to further widen the gap between traditional public schools and charter schools. One example of this was the significant cuts to the teaching profession in the 2013 state budget. These changes included freezing teacher pay, eliminating thousands of teacher’s assistant positions, and gutting funds allocated for instructional supplies and textbooks. Due to these budget cuts, public school districts in the state were forced to eliminate many teaching positions and cut back educational programs.

Yet another attempt by the legislature to divert funds to charter schools came in 2017 with Senate Bill 658, which would have required public schools to send more of their local funds to charter schools. Senate Bill 658 subsequently remained stuck in committee. This attempt in conjunction with the already established budget cuts and salary caps have taken a toll on traditional public school districts. 

In response to these legislative initiatives, North Carolina teachers beginning in 2018 have traveled to Raleigh to march with each other in solidarity for increasing state resources and priorities allotted to public education. These marches were part of a larger wave of protests against state legislatures which have cut funding for public education. Though these marches were not against charter schools specifically, in North Carolina, the diversion of funds towards charter schools that occurred at the same time public education funding was cut, and thus was a secondary part of the larger problem. School privatization efforts and the mere existence of charter schools pose the greatest threat to traditional public schools and their teachers.