If the next round of 2014-15 charter school applications are approved in North Carolina, the state could double the number of charters in operation there within three years.
A 2011 overhaul of the state's charter school law by a Republican-controlled legislature lifted the 100-school cap on charters and relaxed laws controlling how the publicly financed but independently run schools can operate.
The change has raised some concerns among district officials about the quality of the new charters that have been approved and the impact the new schools could have on traditional schools.
The tensions come after a separate law, passed last year, dissolved the former charter school board and created a new advisory board made up of charter supporters.
It also removed districts' right to submit impact statements with charter school applications. The changes created an environment viewed as more charter-friendly.
North Carolina currently has 127 charter schools in operation. The state approved eight new charter schools in 2012-13 and 23 this school year.
The state school board recently approved the opening of 26 new charter schools for next school year, and the state's newly created Charter School Advisory Board has announced that it will consider putting 62 other charter applications on the runway toward state approval for opening in the 2014-15.
"We're still at the beginning of this next phase of growth in North Carolina," said Nina Rees, the president and chief executive officer of the Washington-based National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.
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