North Carolina charter schools made the news last week with a pair of reports with vastly different viewpoints.

A report from the John Locke Foundation, a conservative Raleigh think tank, said that 150 traditional schools across the state would be forced to close if the State Board of Education extended new charter school performance standards to all public schools. In the Wake County school system, that would include three regular schools and one alternative school.

The Locke Foundation argues that it's unfair to hold charter schools to stricter standards than traditional public schools. New standards for charter schools say they can be shut down if for two of three consecutive years they don't meet or exceed 'expected growth' in test scores and have an overall performance composite score of less than 60 percent.

One predominantly black Raleigh charter school got a reprieve today while another is still hanging in the wind.

The state Board of Education voted today to give PreEminent Charter a three-year renewal to see if scores improve. But the board delayed taking action on Torchlight Academy until they get some additional information.

Torchlight could still wind up not having its charter renewed, which would basically mean the school would close at the end of this school year.

Should the state give more latitude to high F&R and minority charter schools before not renewing their charters?

As noted in today's article, representatives from PreEminent Charter and Torchlight Academy, both in Raleigh, are making that case in an attempt to keep their charters. State officials are citing low test scores and other issues for not recommending that their charters be renewed when they expire in June.

"You have to look at more than statistics," said Don McQueen, executive director of Torchlight. "You have to look at the character of the school."