NC charter school is rejected despite having GOP backers. Here’s why it didn’t pass.

A proposed North Carolina charter school that some Republican lawmakers tried to ramrod approval for has been rejected by the state.

The N.C. Charter Schools Review Board on Monday turned down the application for Trinitas Academy, which had sought approval to open in 2025 in Iredell County. Review board members questioned both details in Trinitas’ application and the process used to circumvent the normal approval process.

In June, the state House passed a bill requiring the Review Board to authorize Trinitas to open this year, the Charlotte Observer previously reported. The Senate didn’t act on the legislation.

“There’s a process,” Alex Quigley, a member of the Review Board, said Monday. “I have real questions about a board that says, ‘Eh we’re going to do something completely outside of the scope and the process regardless of whether it’s offered to you.’”

The Review Board consists of charter school supporters, many of whom operate charter schools. Members are mainly selected by the Republican-controlled General Assembly.

Charter school Trinitas has GOP ties

Joe Higgins, a member of Trinitas’ board, told the Review Board that some legislators had included the Trinitas provision based on the need for more schools in the fast-growing Mooresville area.

Trinitas can appeal the rejection to the State Board of Education. School leaders can also apply again next year.

The board of directors listed on Trinitas’ application includes Will Bowen, communications director for Republican U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry, and Susan Tillis, the wife of Republican U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis.

Susan Tillis’ name is no longer listed on the board on Trinitas’ website.

Promoting ‘classical education’

Trinitas means “three in one” in Latin — a reference to the Holy Trinity.

Trinitas promoted that it will provide students with a “classical education,” which is historically popular among Christian schools and prep schools. It also has become a buzzword for school choice activists since the pandemic, with new schools popping up across the country, usually run by religious conservatives.

“You said a large number of your parents are looking for a school that provides I guess a different type of moral and religious instruction,” said Bruce Friend, chair of the Review Board. “Again, a charter school is a public school.

“It cannot be faith-based. It just seems like throughout the application it mentions a lot about reaching out to students who are involved in homeschooling or churches.”

Higgins said Trinitas would remove the religious components when teaching classical education. He said they’d teach religion from a world history view but not a doctrinal point of view.

“It’s a natural affinity group,” Higgins said. “Those families who are in the Christian world, or Jewish world or Muslim world who are looking for a values and virtues based education.”

Conflict of interest concern raised

Review Board members questioned how the application repeatedly talks about reaching out to the homeschooling community.

Higgins said they’d invite homeschoolers to come to the campus to serve as a bridge for getting them to eventually enroll in Trinitas. Higgins said homeschoolers could buy the classical education curriculum developed by his company to follow along with what Trinitas’ students are studying.

“You’re using your facility to bring homeschoolers in to purchase your curriculum?” Friend asked.

“If they’d like to,” Higgins replied.

When questions about conflict of interest were raised, Higgins said he’d donate everything to the school for the first couple of years. Higgins said that his mission is to grow classical education.

Accuracy of application questioned

Review board members questioned the accuracy of the school’s numbers for how many economically disadvantaged students and how many students with disabilities it expected to serve. Board members also questioned whether Trinitas had a strong enough transportation plan to help students attend the school.

Given the questions, Review Board vice chair John Eldridge said he didn’t “feel comfortable just releasing” the $4.6 million in state funding that Trinitas would get in its first year.

Trinitas leaders asked the Review Board for a chance to address its concerns, pointing to how it has a building ready unlike many proposed charter schools. The K-8 charter school would be located in the old Mt. Mourne School building in Mooresville.

“Yes, I know all the I’s are not dotted and the T’s are not crossed, but that will happen in time,” said Mikhail Clark, an attorney and member of the Trinitas board.

13 new charter school applications

Trinitas is among 13 new charter school applications submitted this year. Most of the new schools want to open in 2026.

Trinitas and 2 Hour Learning Online, a proposed statewide online charter school, both sought accelerated approval to open in 2025. Both applications were rejected on Monday.

The Review Board will interview the remaining 11 applications over the next several months. This group includes three in Wake County and one each in Chatham, Forsyth, Guilford, Mecklenburg, Union and Warren counties. There are also two applicants who want to start statewide online-only charter schools.

One of the online applicants is N.C. Connections Academy, which would be managed by the global education company Pearson.

There was previously an N.C. Connections Academy managed by Pearson. The two groups split and the school was renamed as N.C. Cyber Academy.

‘Wake-up call’ on charter management contracts

Under state law, charter schools are given to non-profit boards. The boards of many charter schools contract with for-profit management companies to run the day-to-day operations.

Review board members said they got a “wake-up call” on Monday when they voted to allow Legacy Classical Academy in Rockingham County to end its management agreement with American Traditional Academies. Legacy Classical will operate as an independent charter school.

In its termination request, Legacy Classical’s board raised concerns such as how it felt the 14% management fee charged by American Traditional Academies was too high.

Eric Sanchez, a Review Board member, said some of the concerns members had when they first reviewed Legacy Classical’s application have now come to bear.

”This is a wake-up call,” Sanchez said. “We’ve got to find a way to start being able to look into the contracts. We’ve got to be part of the discussion and ultimately it’s got to be part of our vetting process, and if we think otherwise we’re mistaken.”

Based on what happened at Legacy Classical, the Review Board is now recommending that charter school applicants have their own legal counsel review agreements. Often times the applicants will rely on attorneys from the management organization.

“I’ve certainly passed some votes in favor of applicants you know — whether it’s a year or two years later — that I sometimes wish I could have that vote back,” Friend said. “That happens. We’re not perfect around this table.”