North Carolina has 133 Cooperative Innovative High Schools, 90 of which have early college in their name. Early college high schools allow students to earn college credits while working towards graduation and are paired with institutions of higher education in the area, most often community colleges. Early colleges are designed to serve students who are at risk of dropping out of school, first-generation college students, and students who can use the extra attention and accelerated atmosphere provided by the schools. Ninety-seven of the state’s 115 school districts have a Cooperative Innovative High School.
If a provision in the Senate budget makes it into the final spending plan for the next two years, North Carolina’s early college high schools could be facing a reduction in the funding they receive from the state. The provision would phase out supplemental state funds the schools receive, which are above and beyond the traditional funding that schools in North Carolina receive. These schools will still get that traditional funding, but will no longer receive the extra money that, for some schools, enables them to survive.
For more on this, read this article. Then, share your thoughts with us: Should supplemental state funding for early colleges be phased out, as proposed in the Senate budget?