School Choice & Charters

N.C. Charters Must Disclose Salaries, Education Officials Say

By Katie Ash — April 16, 2014 1 min read
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Education officials in North Carolina now say that charter schools must disclose the salaries of their employees as do regular public schools, reversing a decision from last month that the publicly funded, independent schools did not have to provide those figures, reports the News & Observer.

The state Department of Public Instruction “misunderstood the question” when it said in March that charter schools did not have to comply with public disclosure laws, said state schools Superintendent June Atkinson.

The reversal has left many North Carolina charter schools confused as to whether they should disclose salaries, the paper reports, for fear of violating personnel privacy laws. Many are now consulting legal advice before disclosing the numbers.

The pressure to release employee salaries at charter schools comes as the charter school sector in North Carolina rapidly expands—prompting anxiety and greater scrutiny from the schools’ critics. After a 2011 overhaul of the state’s charter law that lifted the 100-school cap on charters, the state is now on track to potentially double the number of charter schools there within three years.

A version of this news article first appeared in the Charters & Choice blog.