Charter schools seek lottery funds
Friday, March 31st, 2006
By Chris Fitzsimon
By Erin Cox mcox@independenttribune.com
Concord Independent Tribune
HARRISBURG - Though charter schools are public schools, they won’t see any funds from the North Carolina Education Lottery, which kicked-off on Thursday.
The volunteer advocacy group NC-SELF (Students for Equitable Lottery Funding) came to Harrisburg on Thursday to alert community members of what the organization considers a mistake - legislators didn’t include the state’s 98 charter schools in the distribution plan for lottery revenues.
Carolina International School hosted a meeting Thursday night with area elected officials, other Region 6 charter schools representatives and parents to discuss the actions of NC-SELF and how the new state education lottery will affect area charter school students.
“It is simply an oversight,” said Todd Havican, a NC-SELF Region 6 coordinator. “If you look at the actual wording of the lottery bill, it doesn’t specifically exclude charter schools, but the Attorney General has made a statement that charter schools will not get lottery funding.”
Established in 1996, North Carolina charter schools are tuition-free public schools funded by federal, state and local taxes, but do not receive money for facilities.
Statewide, more than 27,000 students attend charter schools.
The only charter school in the county, Carolina International School currently serves 370 students in grades K-8 and is adding one grade per year since it started in September 2004. (more…)
Havican told meeting attendants on Thursday night that charter schools currently receive 5 to 29 percent less in state per-pupil operating funds than traditional public schools.
Without lottery funds, it’s expected that rate could climb to a range of 10 to 35 percent. (more…)
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