A report touting 76,000 names on charter school waiting lists across North Carolina could give the wrong impression about demand for charters.
It’s true that interest and enrollment have grown in charters, which are public schools but free of many of the rules and regulations traditional public schools must follow. But 76,000 names on waitlists aren’t the same as 76,000 students. That’s a point even the Office of Charter Schools, the agency that regulates the state’s 200 charters, was compelled to make in its 2020 Annual Report to the General Assembly.
In fact, OCS officials, including Executive Director Dave Machado, don’t know how many students are trying get into charters because students’ names might appear on waitlists at multiple schools. This can result in an overcount.