Concrete Roses looking for money to pay teachers

Two weeks after Concrete Roses STEM Academy suddenly shut down, administrators at the charter school are trying to find a way to get more money to pay teachers for their last days of work.

WBTV, the Observer's news partner, reported earlier this week that school teachers and staff were growing worried that they won't ever see their final paychecks.

Now, an email to faculty and staff at Concrete Roses provided to the Observer lays out a few ways CEO Cedric Stone is hoping to secure the money to pay teachers.

First, some financial background: The school was originally authorized by the state to spend about $479,000 based on how many students were expected to attend. As enrollment dwindled and the school failed to turn in reports of how it spent money over the summer, the state Office of Charter Schools froze Concrete Roses' access to cash.

The school had already spent $285,170, much of it on payroll. But teachers and staff at the school say they had yet to receive paychecks for the last two weeks of classes before the school's funding was cut off.

Stone's email lays out three ways he hopes to get more money to pay them:

• Asking the Office of Charter Schools for permission to use some of the school's allotted money.
• Selling equipment and other assets the school still has.
• Asking Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools for money based on its enrollment through the first 20 days of class

All three methods face challenges. The Office of Charter Schools had already frozen Concrete Roses' account, and was going to be clawing back money anyway had the school stayed open.

The office also told me earlier this month that the assets of the school immediately become property of the state. And CMS is dealing with its own budget challenges related to charter school projections, and isn't going to want to give money to a school that's closed.

Stone's email ends with a warning for teachers to contact him with questions, and not to call the state or the news media.

"Allow me to leave you with a biblical verse that is very dear to to me," Stone writes. "There's a verse in the bible which states 'Never bear false witness against your neighbor!' Also, please ceast [sic] all use of the school email system immediately. Thanks in advance."

Stone didn't respond to a phone message left today.

Will charters dwindle in 2015?

Anyone who wants to open a charter school in North Carolina in 2015 must file a letter of intent by noon Sept. 6.

Goodall

Eddie Goodall, executive director of the N.C. Public Charter Schools Association,  worries that the "little-known cutoff date" will eliminate prospective operators.  The letters for 2014 applications weren't due until January 2013.

Joel Medley,  director of the N.C. Office of Charter Schools, disagrees.  The deadline has been posted on the web site and publicized to anyone who has inquired about opening a school since last November, he said.

If there's a drop in applications,  Medley said he's more likely to blame a new application fee.  Lawmakers set a range of $500 to $1,000; the state Board of Education will soon decide what the fee will be.  Medley said he doesn't know how the money will be spent: "We did not propose that."

Bottom line:  North Carolina is still trying to sort out a system for granting large numbers of charters every year.  When the state authorized charter schools -- public schools run by independent nonprofit boards,  rather than school districts -- in the late 1990s,  it capped the total at 100.  For years, the only openings were for a handful of spots that came open when an existing school closed.

Two years ago legislators lifted the cap,  creating a surge of new schools, especially in the Charlotte region. Twenty-three opened this summer, six of them in Mecklenburg and surrounding counties.

Applicants must work their way through an evolving process.  Those who file letters of intent follow up with full-fledged applications that detail their plans for education, spending and governance.  Those are reviewed by an advisory panel  --  legislators just created a new board to handle that work  --  and sent to the state Board of Education for final approval.

Last time around,  the charter office got 156 letters of intent and 70 actual applications.  The old advisory council recommended 26 for approval, and the Board of Education voted in August to consider six more.  The board is scheduled to vote on the final list next week.

Mint Hill mayor gets charter rejection

Mint Hill Mayor Ted Biggers is among 27 applicants statewide whose 2014-15 charter school proposals were pulled from consideration because of incomplete paperwork.  The Public Charter School Advisory Council met Monday to ponder giving them a second chance  --  and found two more with incomplete paperwork.

The state Office of Charter Schools found that 42 of 69 applications were complete,  sending them on for the next step of review.  Sixteen of 19 applications from Mecklenburg County cleared the first screening, while only five of the 10 applications for surrounding counties made the cut.  Rejections included both applications from Iredell County,  two of three from Union County and one of three for Cabarrus County.  Both applications filed for Gaston County survived the first screening.

Biggers

Biggers is already president of the school board of Queens Grant Community School,  a K-8 charter in Mint Hill.  Queens Grant High School in nearby Matthews has been operating under the same charter for the last six years,  with the new application designed to split the high school off under its own charter.  The Office of Charter Schools cited four gaps in the application,  which includes a 38-page narrative and 133 pages of appendices.  Keung Hui of the News & Observer obtained copies of all the rejection letters;  read them here.  All 2014 applications are available here.

Biggers said Monday the rejection won't close the high school.  He said his board just thought it made more sense to have separate charters,  since the two Queens Grants have separate campuses and principals.

As for the rejection,  Biggers says he understands:  "Quite frankly,  it's just like a job interview.  You judge folks on the way they present themselves in the application."  But he said it might make more sense for the office to send back applications with minor omissions to allow corrections,  rather than throwing those applications out.

The advisory council is slated to decide Tuesday how to handle the rejected applications.

As Hui reports,  all this is part of a broader debate over the proper way to monitor educational quality and financial responsibility in North Carolina's fast-growing charter school movement.  Interest has been especially intense in the Charlotte region,  which hosts a large number of existing charter schools and the N.C. Public Charter Schools Association.  The association is among three charter advocacy groups that has raised questions about the large number of disqualifications this year.