North Carolina's Charter Schools Review Board has signed off on a fresh wave of virtual charter programs, widening the pipeline for online seats even as state officials argue over how to judge quality and pay for remote learning. The approvals deepen a fast-growing network of statewide virtual academies that already teach thousands of students and have sharpened demands for tougher accountability.
At a March meeting, the board approved requests from Central Wake High School, Triangle Math and Science Academy (TMSA), Jackson Day School and Phoenix Academy to operate as remote charter academies, bringing the statewide total to 21 virtual charter schools and opening thousands of new seats this fall, as reported by Governing. The conversation was anything but sleepy: Review Board member Stephen Gay blasted the expansion as a "money grab," a shot that drew a sharp rebuke from Review Board chair Bruce Friend. Supporters countered that the new online options track with what parents are asking for and offer lifelines to students who do not thrive in traditional classrooms.
Separately, the board approved Pine Springs Preparatory's plan to spin off its online program into a standalone charter called Dogwood Virtual School, a change the board said was allowed under a 2023 law, according to EdNC. Pine Springs' virtual academy already enrolls roughly 3,600 students from across North Carolina, school leaders told the board, and officials said separating the virtual and brick-and-mortar operations should create clearer audit trails and reporting lines. The fast-track process for large remote academies was written into the state's 2023 budget bill.
The state's first two virtual charters, North Carolina Virtual Academy and North Carolina Cyber Academy, launched in 2015 as pilot programs and received new five-year renewals this winter, according to Governing. State data show the two schools now serve more than 6,300 students, while remote charters overall enroll more than 10,000 students this school year, according to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction's data dashboard, DART. Backers say those headcounts prove families want virtual options. Critics point to years of low academic performance at some programs and question whether the results justify the rapid growth.
Those performance concerns and the lingering money questions have helped spark a separate debate over how these schools are funded. The State Board of Education is considering a proposal to swap the current county-based funding system for virtual charters with a single statewide per-pupil rate, a shift that surfaced after reports that the large virtual academies collectively hold about $25.7 million in reserves. NC Newsline reported that those reserves, combined with the typically lower operating costs of fully remote schools, have fueled calls for clearer rules on how public dollars are put back into student services.
Oversight and accountability
Throughout the review process, board members pressed for sharper tools to judge how virtual schools are actually doing. They asked operators to return with more robust data that follow students over multiple years after they enroll in remote academies. As EdNC reported, several members pushed for "legacy" measures that capture outcomes for students who remain in a virtual program for multiple school years rather than just a snapshot in time. Those concerns line up with renewed scrutiny of audits, reporting rules and the way management contracts with for-profit vendors are disclosed to the public.
What families and districts should watch
Families and local districts now have some homework of their own. They will want to track any changes to the state's funding formula and watch how the new remote programs perform once they open, including N.C. Connections Academy, which had more than 1,000 students registered to begin in August, according to reporting. NC Newsline notes that the rise of statewide virtual charters could spur lawmakers to adjust the payment system and layer on stricter transparency requirements. District leaders, meanwhile, are eyeing whether the online academies will siphon students, and the funding that follows them, away from traditional brick-and-mortar schools.
For now, the Review Board's latest approvals cement virtual schooling as a larger piece of North Carolina's public education landscape. They also leave a central dilemma unresolved: how the state will satisfy strong parental demand for online options while enforcing clear financial rules and making sure student outcomes can be measured and compared. Lawmakers, Department of Public Instruction officials and local districts are widely expected to keep pushing for firmer guardrails before the next enrollment cycle kicks off.
