Charlotte-Mecklenburg School officials don’t want a bill that would allow the towns of Matthews and Mint Hill to create their own charter schools to get approval.
The CMS board has been vocal about its concerns that the bill would lead to increased segregation in CMS. Speaking on WFAE’s Charlotte Talks today, Superintendent Clayton Wilcox called the bill bad public policy and an effort to kill public education.
"I think when you say that you’re going to have, for example, a charter school that only lets certain people in — in this case people with a Matthews zip code — and yet other people are going to pay for that and they don’t have the right to go, I think that’s bad public policy," Wilcox said.
Under the bill, students from Matthews and Mint Hill would have priority getting into the potential charter school. The money the state pays for each student would be redirected to the charter. But the towns would also have their own taxing authority to supplement that funding. Matthews’ leaders say the bill would ensure students continue to go to school close to their homes.
"I think the charter school agenda, just like some of the other voucher programs that are being contemplated, are trying to kill public education," Wilcox said. "They are set out from the very beginning to allow people to go to school with people who are just like them."
CMS is holding a meeting Wednesday evening at Providence High School to discuss the bill’s impact.
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