How far should the state go to screen charter school applicants to decide whether they'll be considered for approval for opening in 2014?
As noted in today's article, the Public Charter School Advisory Council will meet today to begin reviewing 42 applicants who passed the state Office of Charter Schools' initial screening. But complaints about how OCS screened out 27 charter applicants means at least some of them may get a second chance.
The council will open the meeting discussing whether the guidelines it asked staff to put on applicants might have screened out too many for what might be considered minor reasons.
UPDATE
After more than an hour of debate Monday, the council decided to wait until Tuesday to make a final decision on the issue.
One idea that seems to have some support is to form a subcommittee that would review the rejected applications and recommend which ones should go to the full council.
One result of all this controversy is that the Office of Charter Schools did another review that determined two applicants, from Davidson and Mecklenburg counties, should't have passed initial screening after all. The council will decide whether to consider them on Tuesday.
Tuesday Update: The council voted to form an appeals subcommittee to handle any potential appeals from the 27 applicants.
