By Sarah Campbell
scampbell@salisburypost.com
KANNAPOLIS — Kannapolis Board of Education members are taking a stand against a virtual charter school set to open in August.
The board unanimously passed a resolution to join litigation contesting a judge’s decision to grant a charter for the school, which would be based in Cabarrus County and accept 2,750 students throughout the state during its first year.
Litigation costs will be covered by the N.C. School Boards Association’s legal assistance fund.
Board members cite accountability and financing as their primary concerns.
“I want to know if the children will be learning anything. … They do not have to be tested and meet the same standards as traditional public schools,” Chairwoman Danita Rickard said. “Another concern is taxpayer money going to a for-profit company.”
The nonprofit N.C. Learns would run the school, but its curriculum and learning management services would be provided by the for-profit company K12 Inc.
According to school system officials, Kannapolis City Schools — and any other school district where pupils choose to enroll in the virtual academy — would lose about $7,000 per student from their budgets.
‘Too many unknowns’
School board member Doris Buchanan said the cyber charter school doesn’t seem to be a “good idea for the state or for any school system, not just ours.”
“There are just too many unknowns right now,” she said. “It will certainly take away funds form the public schools and there is very little accountability, if any.”
Buchanan pointed out the public school systems are required to provide transportation, food service and special services for exceptional children.
“They get the same amount of money, but they don’t have to provide those services,” she said.
As a self-proclaimed staunch supporter of public education, school board vice-chairwoman Millie Hall said she feels the virtual charter is a “backdoor approach to get into the voucher system that we have been so adamantly against.”
“I feel like this is just knocking down the foundation of public education, causing it to crumble,” she said.
Hall said she’s always been opposed to charter schools because they don’t have to operate under the same state and federal regulations as public school systems.
“I resent the fact that they say it is not going to affect public education,” she said.
Ellen Boyd, the district’s spokeswoman, said based on this year’s funding formula the Kannapolis City school system would have to turn over about $7,000 for each student who attends the cyber charter school.
“Basically for any student who enrolls, the district where that child resides would lose local and state funding for that child,” she said.
And Boyd pointed out that $7,000 figure would also apply to home school students who live in the district and opt to enroll at the charter school.
“We don’t get any funding for home schoolers right now,” she said.
Cabarrus responsible
The Cabarrus County school board voted 5-2 to grant the North Carolina Virtual Academy preliminary approval in January.
The application was then sent to the State Board of Education in February, where it was stalled as board members sought to answer questions about the effectiveness of a cyber charter school and funding.
That’s until N.C. Sen. Fletcher Hartsell, a Republican from Concord and the attorney for N.C. Learns, filed a lawsuit asking a judge to force the state board to respond to the application.
Administrative Law Judge Beecher Gray ruled May 18 that the North Carolina Virtual Academy must be granted a charter because the state board failed to vote on the school’s charter application before the March 15 deadline.
The virtual academy will be the first charter school in the state to operate without oversight of the state Office of Charter Schools.
That burden will shift to the Cabarrus County school system.
“They were locally approved so they will locally have to hold them accountable,” Joel Medley, director of the state office, told the Post on Tuesday.
He sent a letter to Cabarrus Superintendent Dr. Barry Shepherd on May 21 outlining procedures the district and charter need to follow.
A Post reporter obtained a copy of that letter through a public records request.
“In granting approval, CCS (Cabarrus County Schools) must provide NCVA (North Carolina Virtual Academy) all necessary training related to the opening and operation of the charter school,” the letter states.
The Cabarrus school system would also have to ensure the charter school complies with requirements including financial and student reporting, the letter says.
In the letter, Medley goes on to state the district will be responsible for a number of things including exceptional children’s matters, health and safety standards, audits, disciplinary procedures, lottery implementation, background checks and teacher licensure.
Support and concern
During a Jan. 9 work session, Shepherd voiced his support for the North Carolina Virtual Public School. According to minutes from the meeting, Shepherd said the charter school would let students take foreign language and Advanced Placement courses that are not available through the existing North Carolina Virtual Public School, an online program available to all public high schools.
During a Jan. 23 school board meeting, board attorney Mark Henriques said he’d been advised the state would reject the cyber charter school’s application because with no virtual charter schools at present, a different set of rules would need to be written, according to meeting minutes.
The meeting minutes note that Henriques went on to express concerns about lack of student achievement goals, limited ability for the board to terminate the 10-year contract, whether the school may be operated in an educationally sound manner and differing opinions on whether students perform at a higher or lower rate in a virtual charter school.
The majority of board members voted to grant the virtual charter school preliminary approval, with Cindy Fertenbaugh and Tim Furr in opposition.
A Post reporter’s calls to several members of the Cabarrus County school board seeking comment Tuesday were not immediately returned.
Coming to Rowan
The resolution passed in Kannapolis is being circulated throughout the state.
Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools considered it Tuesday evening.
The resolution states “the Board of Education does not believe that a single local board of education acceptable only to the people of Cabarrus County, should be in a position to make a decision that impacts students and school districts across the state.”
The resolution also mentions that the state’s E-Learning Commission had not completed its study of the issues surrounding virtual charter schools including “funding, oversight and academic achievement.”
It also takes issue with the fact that a cyber charter school would have lower operating costs than a traditional charter, but would still be funded under the same formula as brick-and-mortar schools.
The Rowan-Salisbury Board of Education will take up the issue at its June 4 meeting, which will be held at 5 p.m. at the Long Street Administrative Office at 110 S. Long St. in East Spencer.
Contact reporter Sarah Campbell at 704-797-7683.
Twitter: twitter.com/posteducation
Facebook: facebook.com/Sarah.SalisburyPost

A closer look at the North Carolina Virtual Academy

• First-year enrollment would be 2,750 students. Enrollment expected to climb to a high of 6,526 students in a decade. 
• A full-time virtual public charter school open to all kindergarten through 12th grade students and will not limit admission to students on the basis of intellectual ability, measures of achievement or aptitude, athletic ability, disability, race, creed, gender, national origin, religion or ancestry.
• The school will be able to offer more than 150 high school courses designed to help students earn their high school diploma and find their own path to post-high school success—whether that’s in college or in the workforce. Math, English, Science and History courses will be offered in multiple levels—Core, Comprehensive, Honors and Advanced Placement— plus remediation and credit recovery courses to meet the needs of diverse learners. High school students can also take up to four years of a world language (depending on the language), in Spanish, French, Latin, German and Chinese and choose from a variety of electives, including Anthropology, Web design, Entrepreneurship and Green Design & Technology
• The school’s education program will combine lessons accessed on the Internet with hands-on materials kits such as phonics kits, science experiments, art supplies, math manipulatives and musical instruments.
• Students meeting eligibility requirements will be able to check out a computer and printer and receive Internet cost reimbursement for the duration of their enrollment in the school.
• Education products and services for the school will be contracted to K12 Virtual Schools, which is owned by the for-profit company K12 Inc. The company is currently contracted by cyber charter schools in more than 20 states. 
Source: Application submitted to the State Board of Education