Bill > S371

This bill introduces several significant changes to charter school regulations in North Carolina, aimed at addressing chronically low-performing schools. The legislation requires charter schools to disclose their performance grades on enrollment applications, restricts low-performing charter schools from expanding their enrollment, and establishes a stricter accountability framework. Specifically, if a charter school is identified as low-performing for four consecutive years, its charter will be automatically revoked. The bill also reduces the term for remote charter academies from five to three years, limiting their initial and renewal periods. Additionally, the bill removes previous provisions that allowed some flexibility for continually low-performing schools, such as the ability to continue operating if they met growth metrics or implemented improvement plans. By requiring performance transparency and implementing more stringent consequences for consistently underperforming schools, the bill seeks to protect students from being trapped in educational environments that are not meeting their academic needs. The new regulations will take effect for the 2025-2026 school year, giving charter schools time to prepare for these more rigorous standards.

https://www.ncleg.gov/BillLookUp/2025/S371