NORTH CAROLINA Awarded Millions

NORTH CAROLINA Awarded Millions in Race to the top funding

North Carolina learned Tuesday that it will receive millions of dollars in the second phase of federal Race to the Top funding, a federal grant designed to reward states for ambitious educational innovation.

After failing in its first bid for the education-reform initiative, North Carolina was selected earlier this month as one of 19 finalists for part of the $3.4 billion in federal funding.

Advocates for public charter schools are alarmed that the administration's decision to reward North Carolina may signal a shift in the original intent of the Race to the Top initiative.

Applications were scored on a 500 point scale, 40 of which were directly tied to "successful conditions for charter schools." On its original application, North Carolina was deemed to have forfeited at least 17 points due to its restrictive charter cap.

State lawmakers did not take measures to lift the cap during the short legislative session, an oversight that some critics believe should have prevented North Carolina from advancing in the second round. Education reform advocates remain convinced that the state is not competitively positioned.

"From the beginning, the Race to the Top program placed heavy emphasis on the role of charter schools and the importance of supporting high-quality charter school movements," said Darrell Allison, President of Parents for Educational Freedom in North Carolina. "Rewarding a state like North Carolina, where charter laws are restrictive not only because of the arbitrary cap but also because of inequities in funding and operation, is confusing to say the least."

Todd Ziebarth, Vice President for Policy with the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, agrees that the decision is not in keeping with the original intent of Race to the Top.

"Considering that other states took meaningful legislative action on charter schools to better compete for the federal initiative, we did not expect the U.S. Department of Education to select a state like North Carolina," said Ziebarth.

In June, Education Week and the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center released their 2010 Diplomas Count study on national graduation rates, ranking North Carolina 45th out of 50 states. According to the study, the state's graduation rate is 57.8%, which is 11 points worse than the national average.

Reform advocates cite national studies linking choice initiatives such as public charter schools to improved graduation rates. In a 2009 study by the RAND Corp, for instance, charter graduation rates and college attendance rates were shown to be better than traditional district school rates by 15 percentage points and eight percentage points, respectively.

"Ultimately,” said Ziebarth, “this decision sends the wrong message to the rest of the nation about the role of charter schools in educational reform.”

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