Charter schools have been growing in North Carolina. Charter schools are an educational reform that brings freedom of choice to public education. This freedom allows for growth, flexibility, and innovation. Although the charter school movement began in the 1980s in Minnesota, the North Carolina charter school movement started in the mid-1990s. It has been controversial, but the schools continue to be popular. Today, the state has more than 200 charter schools.
The exact definition of a charter school varies from state to state. However, most charter schools share certain characteristics. They receive public money but are not governed by a local or state school board. Instead, each school is operated by an independent board with the power to set school policies. Charter schools can hire their own teachers, set their own hours, and write their own curricula.
The North Carolina charter school movement began in 1996, when the General Assembly approved the Charter School Act (CSA). CSA allowed any person, group, or non-profit organization to propose a charter school. The State Board of Education was given the power to approve or reject this proposal. Though charter schools were freed from many bureaucratic restraints, they were still required to administer standardized state tests. CSA capped the number of state charter schools at 100. In 2011, that cap was removed.
A flurry of activity followed the passage of the 1996 bill. Twenty-seven charter schools opened in 1997, including the Sterling Montessori Academy in Morrisville and Exploris Middle School in Raleigh. Some of these first charter schools experienced problems. Orange County’s School in the Community struggled with transportation, finance, and hiring issues; the school closed in 1999.
But there were also striking successes. In 1999, for instance, 93 percent of sixth graders at Durham’s Kestrel Heights School performed at or above grade level on their end-of-grade math exam. In general, charter schools slightly underperformed public schools on state tests during this period.
Opponents of charter schools make several arguments against them. They point to a 2006 study by Robert Bifulco and Helen Ladd: It reports that charter school students lag behind public school students on end-of-grade tests. A 2007 report by the North Carolina Center for Public Policy Research (NCCPPR) came to a similar conclusion. NCCPPR also warned that charter schools were racially imbalanced. This led critics like Bifulco and Ladd to accuse charter schools of resegregation.
Charter school advocates dismiss these criticisms as incorrect. They point out that charter schools often serve at-risk students, explaining their lower test scores. Terry Stoops, formerly of the John Locke Foundation, has noted that charter schools often provide a better all-around learning environment. On average, charters have smaller class sizes and fewer discipline problems. Other studies have found that charter school performance improves over time. This finding casts doubt on the conclusions of the Bifulco and Ladd study, conducted in 2007, less than ten years into the charter school experiment.
Public support for charter schools has remained strong since the passage of the 1996 law. A 2006 survey by WRAL-TV found that 59 percent of North Carolinians favored raising the charter cap. According to a 2006 poll by the John Locke Foundation, 65 percent of Wake County residents wanted more charter schools in their county. North Carolina charter schools have lengthy waiting lists every year.
North Carolina charter schools have had both successes and setbacks. A Blue Ribbon Commission on Charter Schools, convened by the State Board of Education in 2007, recommended raising the cap by six schools per year. But in the 2008 gubernatorial race, charter school advocate Pat McCrory was defeated by Beverly Perdue, who was backed by the North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE) and who opposed lifting the cap. The cap was eventually lifted in 2011 as a result of state political change and federal education reform incentives. The year before the cap was lifted, the state received $400 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Education in support of innovative initiatives that addressed specific state needs.
In 2011, the General Assembly passed Senate Bill 8, and Governor Purdue signed it, finally lifting the charter school cap. The bill not only removed the cap but also lifted enrollment restrictions and eliminated provisions requiring charter schools to serve specific subcategories of students (e.g., gifted students, students with disabilities). By mid-April, approximately 60 charter school applications had been submitted to the N.C. Office of Charter Schools, and the era of charter school growth had begun.[1]
The passage of Senate Bill 8 was ultimately the result of a mix between a new Republican Congress and broad compromises. Governor Purdue, at the time, told the Associated Press that eliminating the cap would provide more public school options to more people while maintaining the authority within the State Board of Education. [2]
Initially, Republicans had proposed altering the charter school approval process, giving some of the authority to a charter school review board. However, Republicans lacked the majority to pass such sweeping legislation and elected to compromise and maintain the charter school approval process without further changes.
By 2015, there were 148 charter schools in the state, with approximately 11 slated to open the following fall.
The Covid-19 pandemic pushed more families toward charter schools as they sought an alternative to restrictive public-school policies and declining academic standards. By the end of 2020, there were 117,000 students enrolled in charter schools, and by the following year, there were 126,000. The school choice debate raged on, and charter schools began to play a central role in that debate as increasing numbers of public school students left for charter schools.
In 2023, Republicans moved to enact several changes that had failed in 2011. Senate Bill 618 and Senate Bill 219 sought to create a Charter School Review Board, an independent board that would oversee the approval and oversight of all charter schools in North Carolina, replacing the role of the State Board of Education.
In July, Governor Roy Cooper vetoed both bills, claiming they were “a legislative power grab,” and that they handed the oversight responsibility to a “commission of political friends and extremists appointed by Republican legislators, making it more likely that faulty or failing charter schools will be allowed to operate and shortchange their students. Oversight of charter schools should be conducted by education experts, not partisan politicians.”[3]
Despite these protests, the Republican majority overrode the vetoes in August and established the independent Charter School Review Board, responsible for oversight of all charter schools in the state. The State Board retains review and appellate authority but delegates all other responsibilities to the new board.
Significant tensions remain between the independent Charter School Review Board and the State Board of Education. In July 2025, lawmakers passed Senate Bill 254, which transferred more power to the review board and minimized the State Board of Education’s role in charter school operations.
Governor Stein, alongside many Democrats, claimed the bill was an “unconstitutional infringement on the authority of the State Board of Education.” Nonetheless, the legislature has continued to signal its desire to place more authority in the Charter School Review Board—further escalating tensions.
The independent board has led to charter school growth. The number of charter schools reached a peak of 213 schools at the start of the 2025 academic year, a 113 percent increase since the cap was lifted. Enrollment has seen similar gains, reaching an average daily membership (ADM) of 161,057, representing 10.5% of North Carolina’s total public school enrollment. [4]
Growth has continued to outpace supply, as 77 percent of state charter schools reported waitlists in 2024. Despite the growth, the number of charter schools in 2024–2025 declined for the first time in 14 years, dropping from 211 schools to 208. This marks the first year in the state’s history since the cap was lifted that more charter schools have closed than opened. [5]
Charter schools are still public schools funded by tax dollars; however, they are run by independent boards with greater autonomy and control over curriculum and staffing. What remains to be seen is whether the supply of charter schools will continue to grow to meet the demands of students, or whether parents and students will have to find alternatives. In addition, it will take time to see whether the arrangement between the State Board of Education and the Charter School Review Board can function effectively.
Notes
[1] David N. Bass, “With Cap Lifted, State Sees Surge in Charter School Applications,” Carolina Journal, April 24, 2012.
[2] Laura Seel, “Perdue Signs Law to End Charter School Cap,” Associated Press, June 18, 2011.
[3] Roy Cooper, “Governor Roy Cooper Objections and Veto Message,” July 7, 2023.
[4] “2024 Annual Charter Schools Report to the North Carolina General Assembly.” North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, August 15, 2025.
[5] Kristen Blair, “Charter Enrollment Grows—But Shifts amid Challenges, Competition: A Look at State and National Trends,” EdNC, July 29, 2025.
(Note: Dylan Coombs updated this entry in June 2026.)