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Durham Schools Push Against Possible State Takeover

New program will turn over control of low-performing public schools to charter school operators.
Phil Roeder
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Flickr - Creative Commons - https://flic.kr/p/agLDmm
New program will turn over control of low-performing public schools to charter school operators.

The state Department of Public Instruction released a shortlist of six low-performing public schools last week that are candidates for its Innovative School District. The new program will turn over control of schools to charter school operators. 

Host Frank Stasio talks with WUNC's education reporter Lisa Philip about the Department of Public Instruction's new program, Innovative School District.

Two schools in Durham County were on the list, but district officials have expressed skepticism about the program. They have asked to be excluded from consideration because they want to retain local control of the schools. The state will pick the first two schools for the program by the end of this year.

Host Frank Stasio talks with Lisa Philip, WUNC education reporter, about how school district leaders across the state are responding to the new program.

Copyright 2017 North Carolina Public Radio

Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.
Charlie Shelton