Emotions mixed on trend of school choice

Parents have no lack of school choices in Iredell County, whether it be a public, charter or private school.

While some are celebrating those choices in honor of National School Choice week, others in the local school community are ambivalent.

"As we get more segmented, I’m concerned there isn’t a standard out there saying, ‘This is what quality K-12 education looks like,’" said Iredell-Statesville Schools Superintendent Brady Johnson. "What I wish we as a society and culture would do, I wish we would agree to work together in our education challenges rather than saying, ‘I’ll do it my way.’"

Public and charter schools both receive public funding, whereas private schools are funded by student tuition costs.

When charter schools were first pitched in the late 1980s, the thought was to create a public school with fewer restrictions so teachers and teaching styles could be innovative. The idea was to then go back and share what they learned with traditioanl public schools.

"Right now there is not a communication system in place where that’s happening," Johnson said. "Somewhere at the state level there is a breakdown in sharing that innovation."

State legislation enacted this past summer allows any parent of a child with disabilities to receive a tax credit of $3,000 a semester to send their child wherever they think the best education is. Johnson said no students have taken the tax credit and left I-SS, though a few have inquired. The total of $6,000 available for a year of education for special needs children is still not enough to cover the tuition of a couple of the private schools in Iredell County.

Elementary, middle and high school tuition rates at Statesville Christian School all exceed $6,000, with the high school peaking at $7,505 a year. Statesville Montessori School’s tuition is $6,500 for grades first through third, $6,800 in grades four and five and more than $7,000 in middle school.

By comparison, a year’s tuition at UNC-Chapel Hill for in-state residents in the 2011-12 year is $7,008.

A third private school, Cornerstone Christian Academy, charges $3,300 per year. Principal Renee Griffith, who also serves on the Iredell County Board of Commissioners, said the school specializes in meeting the needs of individual children.

"We are able to have the children move through the material at the speed at which they learn it," said Griffith. "Here, the age is not the issue. Here, the learning is what is measured. You may have a child who is ready for kindergarten at age 4. If they test ready, we’ll start them."

Cornerstone only has 70 students in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade, allowing the eight teachers on staff to work one-on-one with every student, which is something public schools cannot promise. Private schools do not, however, have the same licensure requirements for teachers as I-SS and have more flexibility in their curriculum because it does not have to be state-approved.

A new law passed by the General Assembly during the summer also withdrew the cap on charter schools that mandated no more than 100 could exist in the state, meaning the potential numbers of charters in now limitless.

"We’re not in competition with I-SS," said Stephen Gay, American Renaissance Middle School principal. "We just offer a choice."

Charter schools are not mandated like I-SS to provide transportation or food service, something that Johnson said worries him when he starts to look at who is attending those schools.

"For some parents, that can be perceived as a barrier," Johnson said, implying that not every parent can drive their child to school or prepare a lunch for them to bring. Johnson said he fears an educational world in the future where the richest kids attend private schools, the middle class goes to charter schools and the poorest families send their children to the regular public school system.

"The way it’s unfolding in our state, I’m concerned we are abandoning public schools," Johnson said. "And, if we aren’t careful, we’ll do harm to our public schools at the expense of saying, ‘We have more options.’"

I-SS has added several schools and programs in recent years to keep up with the call for choices. East Iredell Elementary and Third Creek Elementary are magnet schools in the county any child can attend because of the dual immersion Spanish program and math, science and technology focuses, respectively.

The Collaborative College of Technology and Leadership, where students attend Mitchell Community College and high school at the same time, and the Visual and Performing Arts Center are both early college programs. There is also the N.C. Virtual Public School, where high school students can choose from hundreds of courses to take online, and which is also open to home-schooled students, of which Johnson said there were more than 900 in the county.

The Career Academy and Technical School in Troutman is another example, as well as the I.B. programs at Mount Mourne, Northview and South Iredell High School.