North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein vetoes bill taking NC charter school power from education board

RALEIGH, N.C. — Gov. Josh Stein vetoed a bill Wednesday that reduces the authority of the State Board of Education and State Superintendent Mo Green over North Carolina’s charter schools.

State lawmakers approved a bill last week that makes multiple changes to charter school laws, including requiring that all charter school rules and policies must now be approved first by the N.C. Charter Schools Review Board. Senate Bill 254 would also give charter schools more freedom to relocate without seeking state approval.

“Senate Bill 254 is an unconstitutional infringement on the authority of the State Board of Education and the Superintendent of Public Instruction,” Stein, a Democrat, said in his veto announcement. “Additionally, it weakens accountability of charter schools when every North Carolina student deserves excellent public schools, whether traditional or charter.”

Voting for the bill has largely been along party lines with all Republican legislators in support and most Democrats in opposition. But the bill had enough support from Democratic lawmakers to potentially override Stein’s veto.

Stein also vetoed a bill seeking to give new powers to the Republican state auditor, Dave Boliek.

Charter schools championed by Republicans

Charter schools are nontraditional public schools that are exempt from some of the rules that school districts must follow. For instance, only 50% of a charter school’s teachers must be licensed and charters are not required to provide transportation or participate in the federal school lunch program.

There were 153,480 students in 208 charter schools last school year. Enrollment in charter schools has increased while it’s been falling in traditional public schools.

Charter schools have been championed by GOP lawmakers as a way to increase school options. But Democrats have pointed to how some charter schools contract with for-profit management companies that receive up to 15% of the school’s annual revenue.

Senate Bill 254 would continue the expansion of power for the Charter Schools Review Board. Unlike the state board, most of the review board members are appointed by lawmakers.

In 2023, GOP lawmakers transferred the state board’s power to approve, renew and close charter schools to the review board. The state board, which has a Democratic majority, is now relegated to hearing appeals of decisions made by the review board.

Changes in charter school bill

Provisions in the vetoed bill include:

—The state board still retains the power to approve rules and policies for charter schools. But those rules and policies must have been approved first by the review board.

—The executive director of the Office of Charter Schools would now report to the review board instead of to the state superintendent. The proposed change comes after the superintendent’s seat flipped from Republican to Democrat in last year’s election.

The executive director used to report to the state board, but that was changed in 2016 when a Republican was elected superintendent and a Democrat became governor.

—Requires low-performing charter schools to submit improvement plans to the review board instead of the state board.

—Allows charter schools to relocate within 10 miles without needing state approval as long as they’re still in the same school district where it was approved to operate. Currently they need permission to relocate more than five miles.

—Allows charter schools to not list class rank on transcripts.

Is the bill unconstitutional?

Green and state board chair Eric Davis had urged lawmakers to reject the bill, calling it an unconstitutional attempt to take away their power to oversee public schools.

For instance, Davis said stripping the state board of its full rulemaking power violates the state constitution’s provision that grants the board the authority to make “all needed rules and regulations.”

Green said reassigning management of the Office of Charter Schools to the review board disrupts the unified administration of public education.

“This legislation threatens to weaken North Carolina’s ability to fulfill its constitutional promise to every child,” Davis and Green said in a joint statement in June. “It limits the tools and authority the State Board and Superintendent rely onn and violates established case law affirming the superintendent’s executive role.”

But Republican lawmakers have argued that they have the authority to modify the rules over charter schools.

“I would characterize it as vesting some more flexibility in the review board, but still under the overall jurisdiction of the state board,” Rep. Hugh Blackwell, a Burke County Republican, said during a committee meeting in June. “It does provide that they are the first step and they’ve got to initiate policies and provisions that would be involved with charter approvals. But then it goes up to the state board.”

Auditor powers bill vetoed

Stein also vetoed House Bill 549, which received one Democratic vote in each chamber.

The bill would give Boliek more authority to investigate private businesses and organizations that receive state funds. It would also significantly expand his access to government databases.

“Giving the auditor this intrusive power may undermine our state’s efforts to recruit businesses to North Carolina,” Stein wrote in his veto message.

The bill is one of several recent attempts by Republicans to empower the new auditor.

Following the 2024 elections, lawmakers approved a bill stripping power from incoming Democratic officials and reallocating it to Republicans, including Boliek.

That bill stripped Stein of his appointments to the State Board of Elections and gave them to Boliek, upending over a century of precedent.

Republicans have also sought to give Boliek more power to recommend job cuts or even the wholesale elimination of state agencies, though that legislation has not reached Stein’s desk.