Unchartered Territory

“Lawmakers in North Carolina would pioneer a new way to effectively resegregate public education if they pass a controversial bill allowing municipalities to open their own charter schools, critics of the measure say. The bill, House Bill 514, would authorize four wealthy suburbs of Charlotte that are dissatisfied with the administration of the larger school system to fund their own charter schools and give priority admission to their towns' students. But opponents say the effect would be similar to allowing the jurisdictions to secede from the school system, a practice increasingly used by wealthier communities to break off from larger, more diverse districts and take a disproportionate amount of their funding in the process.”