about charter school enrollment

[Diane Morris]

Welcome to all of the new folks who have joined this list in recent days! So glad to have more hands on deck.

Just to clarify, every charter school must identify a "target population," as well as explain its education plan and the need for such a school, in its application. However, charter school enrollment is determined by a lottery (except for a handful of slots reserved for the children of people on the board). So yes, you can end up with students who do not fit your target population in your school. What are the odds that a lot of parents with non-special-needs kids will want to enroll their children in a special-needs school? I have no idea.

On the flip side, the school could have many students with severe special needs. There's just no way to know.

Yes, North Carolina now offers a tax credit for parents of special-needs students who send those kids to private school. I only know of one private school that I believe would serve my two boys well (Just Right Academy in Durham), but it costs $18,000 a year and is about 45 minutes from my house. 

If your child is thriving in a regular education classroom, then maybe this school isn't going to be the right choice for you. With this effort, I am focusing on special-needs students who are mainstreamed but struggling and those who are in self-contained classrooms. My greatest hope is that this school will have a student body with a variety of disabilities, strengths and challenges.

Sounds expensive, doesn't it? I suspect it will be. (Which is why I'm so excited we now have someone with fundraising experience on board. Yeah, Kelly!) That's why the business and fundraising aspects of this are so important.