by Rhonda Dillingham

Published in The Carolina Journal

What’s in a name? 

In the case of the newly-minted Charter School Review Board, that answer encompasses the entirety of the entity’s new charge and function.

Formerly known as the Charter School Advisory Board, or CSAB, this government body has moved from an advisory to a regulatory capacity.  It no longer makes recommendations to the State Board of Education on cases involving the granting, renewal, suspension and termination of North Carolina’s charter school agreements.  The CSRB is now first chair.  It is where the buck stops.  The BOE only serves as the course by which CSRB decisions can be appealed.

As North Carolina’s Strategic Director for The LIBRE Initiative, Jeffrey Baldwin is passionate about advancing the principles of individual freedom, property rights, limited government and free markets for the US Hispanic community.  He is also a charter school advocate and Board member of Carter G. Woodson School in Winston Salem

From what Baldwin has seen and experienced in his work across the state, charter schools resonate with Hispanic families in significant ways.

“We are not used to having big schools, and with charter schools you will usually find that the student-to-teacher ratio is going to be smaller,” said Baldwin.  “There are other things, like uniforms, that are typical to many charter schools and also remind us of the schools in our home countries.”

“What you will find is that a lot of families understand the value of education,” said Baldwin.  “They will work really hard to learn and have a better life.”

That statement is personal for Baldwin, who at the age of 14 immigrated to the United States to escape the corruption, poverty and hopelessness of the Guatemalan Civil War and socialism.

To Be Rather Than to Seem:  Gaining True Momentum in North Carolina by Rhonda Dillingham

Originally Published on CharterFolk: https://www.charterfolk.org/charterfolk-contributor-rhonda-dillingham-to-be-rather-than-to-seem-gaining-true-momentum-in-north-carolina/

North Carolina has entered a Golden Age of charter school legislation. Proposed statutes that would not have passed both Chambers of the Legislature just a few sessions ago have now been ratified by a Republican supermajority overriding the Democratic Governor’s vetoes. Two such statutes, HB 219 and HB 618, will have longstanding, positive repercussions for the charter school ecosystem in North Carolina. Our aim is to explore how our Charter School Association (CSA) played a major character in this political story and to quantify key progress indicators so that a similar approach might be systematically replicated in the future. Our state motto – Esse Quam Videri (To be rather than to seem) – rings true throughout the various stages of our approach.

1) Retain Ownership. 

House Bill 219 – Charter School Omnibus – was written with the founding principles of North Carolina charter schools in mind, some of which has been augmented and manipulated over the years. Its initial aims included overhauls to per-pupil local funding, enrollment growth, and local capital funding. House Bill 618 – Charter School Review Board – was built upon a major organizational change to the charter school approval, renewal, revocation, and termination processes. Our advocacy team was prepped and ready to help convey the value of these new bills to our stakeholders so that we could rapidly mobilize.

As soon as these bills were proposed we were briefed on their content, their sponsors, and the likelihood that they would pass. We immediately took an ownership stance. We translated the meaning of the bills and their potential impact to our Board and membership, preparing internal stakeholders to put their own advocacy hats on. Specific outreach was allocated to developing a rapport with primary sponsors and supporters of the bills in both the House and Senate, as well as all members of both Chambers’ committees on K-12 Education.