The North Carolina State Board of Education approved a new charter school for Greensboro and four other charter schools across the state on Thursday, March 5.

The State Board of Education approved City Charter Academy (CCA) for Greensboro that plans to open for the 2021 school year.

Charter schools are publicly funded tuition-free schools that do not come under the jurisdiction of the local board of education.

CCA, according to the application filed with the State Board of Education, will be associated with American Heritage Academies Inc.

The application notes that Greensboro Academy, an existing National Heritage Academy charter school, “ranks amongst the highest-performing schools in North Carolina.”

The plan is for City Charter Academy to begin in the 2021 school year as a K-5 school with 520 students and add one grade per year until it reaches K-8 in its fourth year and has 720 students.

The plans call for the school, after four years, to have 28 core classroom teachers and 10 specialized classroom teachers.

The application states that CCA plans to market the school throughout Guilford County so that “CCA’s enrollment is likely to mirror the socioeconomic and demographic makeup of Guilford County Schools. Student ethnicities in Guilford County are: 40.85 percent Black, 31.24 percent White, 16.40 percent Hispanic, 6.68 percent Asian and 4.30 percent from Two or More backgrounds. Approximately 65 percent of students qualify for free and reduced-price lunch (FRL), 7 percent are EC, and 9 percent are English Learners (EL).”

The application also notes that according to the ranking in 2017-2018, most of the Guilford County schools in East Greensboro “received a performance grade of “D” or “F.” It also notes that according to a study done by Guilford County Schools that 10 schools should be closed because of poor conditions and 27 need to be replaced.

The application states, “We believe that all families in Guilford County, and especially in East Greensboro, deserve a strong educational program in a safe and secure learning environment. CCA will meet the needs of area students by providing a new or fully renovated school equipped for 21st-century learning.”

The board members of CCA are Jeff Hyde, Doris Godette, Guilford County Commissioner Jeff Phillips, Mark Popple and Mike Stainback.