MAY 10, 2016 2:01 PM

NC may fine closed charter schools that don’t meet obligations

BY T. KEUNG HUI

An advisory board is wrestling with whom to hold accountable when a charter school closes in North Carolina and fails to turn over student records, pay its ex-employees and meet its other financial obligations.

Since 2012, 10 charter schools have closed and displaced 1,114 students and 143 employees with fiscal mismanagement costing millions of dollars at the taxpayer-funded public schools. State education officials said the closures have resulted in difficulties for some families getting access to student records as they move to a new school.

Three of the 10 closings – Student First Academy, Concrete Roses and Entrepreneur High – were in Charlotte. All three faced reports of financial and academic shortcomings and closed during their first school year.

Two longstanding Charlotte charter schools, Kennedy and Crossroads, are expected to close at the end of this year because the state declined to renew their charters.

There are no legal consequences for the non-profit boards of charter schools that fail to follow the closure procedures. The N.C. Charter School Advisory Board discussed Tuesday whether the boards or the employees should be held liable.

[font size=1]-snip-[/font]