Before it opened this fall, Triad International Studies Academy in Guilford County projected an enrollment of 144 students in its first year but drew just 45, well below the state’s required minimum of 80. It shut down last month because of financial problems.
It was the second charter school in two years to close during its first year, raising questions about whether North Carolina’s “Ready to Open” process does enough to ensure new schools are prepared.
Statewide, new charter schools have enrolled an average of 13 percent fewer students than projected in their first year, and only about one in four met their initial targets — a gap that has widened over the past two years. Yet the Charter School Review Board and its predecessor have approved nearly every school recommended for final authorization, granting approval to 28 of 34 schools in the past five years.
The “Ready to Open” process is a yearlong planning and review period meant to ensure new charter schools are prepared to open. Now, the review board is weighing major changes to that process, which officials say are needed to tighten oversight and set clearer enrollment and budget standards.
“This is about sustainability,” said Ashley Logue, executive director of the N.C. Department of Public Instruction’s Office of Charter Schools, which oversees the RTO process. “We want readiness to be assessed based on concrete evidence and data.”
The proposed changes would move the process from flexible guidelines to clearer, stricter standards. Schools would make two in-person presentations — in May and June — instead of a single final review. The Office of Charter Schools is also recommending higher enrollment minimums and raising the break-even budget threshold to 100 students, above the 80 required by law.
Board Chair John Blackburn said the board will take a closer look at schools with weak progress on enrollment or facilities, and may require yearlong delays before opening.
Vice Chair John Eldridge said many applicants underestimate the challenges of opening a school.
“A lot of folks out there think that the application is the hardest part,” Eldridge said. “They’re good people. They have good intentions, and they don’t realize what’s going to happen once the green light gets pushed.”
Both Blackburn and Eldridge said the state’s process, while imperfect, remains stronger than those in many other states. They cited lessons from a recent National Association of Charter School Authorizers conference, where they found North Carolina’s system comparatively thorough.
Eldridge said that in states like Arizona, charters are sometimes approved after a brief “Shark Tank”-style pitch session — a process he described as evidence of how “wild west” charter authorizing can be elsewhere.
“We left that event almost reaffirmed about our application process,” Blackburn said. “[It] can always be improved, but it’s quite, in my opinion, strong compared to other states. We were rather stunned to hear and interact with other authorizers who were learning about basic things about the charter—its budget, its personnel plan, recruitment efforts—after the charter had already been given, rather than upfront.”
The North Carolina Coalition for Charter Schools, which represents charter operators statewide, said it supports the board’s effort to address the problem of schools that fail to meet enrollment goals, but the group cautioned against overregulation.
When new schools can’t open on time because of low enrollment, “It’s not good for the school and it’s not good for the students who expected to go to that school,” said Dave Machado, executive director of the coalition in a statement to NC Newsline.
“So the question is, how do you regulate enough to avoid that outcome, but not so much that you actually discourage new schools from trying to open in the first place?” Machado said.
Machado is a former member of the review board.
The review board will accept public comment over the next month before finalizing recommendations in December. If adopted, the new standards would take effect for schools opening in 2026.
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