The North Carolina Senate passed a bill this week to give charter schools the ability to add additional grades without asking permission of the Board of Education. This bill will now be considered by the House. House Bill 250 provides that:
It shall not be considered a material revision of a charter application and shall not require prior approval of the State Board for a charter school to do any of the following:
(1) Increase its enrollment during the charter school’s second year of operation and annually thereafter by up to twenty percent (20%) of the school’s previous year’s enrollment.
(2) Increase its enrollment during the charter school’s second year of operation and annually thereafter in accordance with planned growth as authorized in its charter.
(3) Expand to offer one grade higher than the charter school currently offers.