North Carolina is expected to have 19 remote charter academies operating next school year, up from 10 the previous year, according to state education officials.
Ashley Logue, executive director of the Office of Charter Schools, told the Charter Schools Review Board on Monday that total includes four statewide virtual schools.
Remote charter academies have expanded since a 2023 law allowed traditional brick-and-mortar schools to create separate online programs or operate as standalone virtual schools. The first seven remote charter programs opened under the law in 2024.
Logue said the growth has increased administrative demands on the Office of Charter Schools.
“The impact of that is that we now authorize and monitor remote academies on top of the brick and mortar academies,” Logue said during her presentation of the 2025 North Carolina Charter Schools Annual Report.
The office is also developing a different renewal process for remote academies. Under state rules, remote charter academies receive fixed five-year contracts and are not eligible for extensions of up to 10 years that traditional charter schools can receive.
In March, board members debated whether growth in remote programs reflects educational demand or schools’ ability to enroll more students and receive the state funding attached to each one.
“I see it as a money grab for a lot of schools that are doing it,” board member Stephen Gay said.
Board Chairman Bruce Friend, whose school received approval earlier this year for a remote charter academy, objected to that characterization.
“If it’s a money grab, then we need to weed that out from the get-go,” Friend said, “not make that a generic comment that applies to those involved in this learning environment.”
The annual report showed slight improvement in charter school performance grades and student academic growth. But grade-level proficiency remained below pre-pandemic levels, and college and career readiness fell to 38.9%, down 2 percentage points from 2024 and 13 points from 2019.
“Grade-level proficiency improved slightly but remains below pre-pandemic levels, which is what we see across the state in all public schools,” Logue said.
She said college and career readiness remains the “clearest academic concern.”
Charter school enrollment continued to rise. Figures presented Monday showed North Carolina ranked fourth nationally for charter growth over the past six years, behind Texas, Florida, and California.
Charter schools remain concentrated in urban counties. Mecklenburg County has 34 schools, followed by Wake with 26, Durham with 17, and Guilford with 15.