Enact the School Chaplain Act

136th Legislature (2025-2026) Introduced by Thad Claggett and 12 co-sponsors

Charter schools may fill unfilled seats with tuition-paying out-of-state or foreign exchange students, capped at 10% and 2 students respectively, with 50–100% tuition.

Referred to committee

#education #primaryandsecondaryeducation

HB 531 — Charter Schools: Out‑of‑State and Foreign Exchange Students (Committee Substitute — Favorably Reported)

Status / Scope
- Purpose: authorize North Carolina charter schools that have unfilled seats to enroll nonresident students (students domiciled in other U.S. states) and certain foreign exchange students, and to charge those students tuition.
- Statutory change: adds new subsections to G.S. 115C‑218.45 (charter school admissions/tuition).
- Procedural status (as reported): Committee Substitute favorably reported. Applies beginning with the admissions process for the 2024–2025 school year; effective when the act becomes law.

Main provisions
1. Out‑of‑state (other U.S. state) students
- A charter school that cannot fill its enrollment with in‑state, eligible students may enroll out‑of‑state domiciliaries.
- Tuition: the school may charge each out‑of‑state student not less than 50% and not more than 100% of the sum of (a) the county per‑pupil local appropriation for the county where the charter is located and (b) the per‑pupil State appropriation for that school year.
- Cap: out‑of‑state students may not exceed 10% of the charter school’s total enrollment.

Foreign exchange students (defined)

Definition: a student domiciled in a foreign country who is in the U.S. on a valid student/exchange visa under the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. §1101 et seq.).
Enrollment limits: no more than two foreign exchange students per year for the high school grades (9–12) at a given charter school.
Tuition: same 50%–100% of the local+state per‑pupil total as above.
Special rules: foreign exchange students for grades 9–12 do NOT count toward program/grade/building enrollment caps and are exempt from any charter school lottery process.

Who is affected
- Charter schools: gain the option to fill empty seats with tuition‑paying nonresident and foreign exchange students and the related tuition revenue.
- Nonresident families and foreign exchange program sponsors: gain additional placement options.
- Local school districts: could face modest enrollment/funding/competition effects where charters enroll nonresident students instead of in‑state students; however, tuition charged to nonresidents is separate from standard per‑pupil public funding formulas.
- State and county education finance: may see marginal shifts depending on how many charters enroll tuition‑paying nonresidents.

Potential impacts and considerations
- Revenue: charter schools may generate tuition revenue (50%–100% of combined local+state per‑pupil amount) from nonresident enrollments; exact amounts depend on local and state per‑pupil allocations.
- Capacity and equity: caps (10% for out‑of‑state, 2 foreign exchange HS students) limit scale; foreign exchange students are exempt from capacity/lottery constraints.
- Administrative/immigration compliance: charters enrolling foreign exchange students must ensure visa and federal immigration requirements are met.
- Local districts: limited exposure to enrollment loss because of caps and tuition requirement; policy tradeoffs include increased school choice vs. enrollment/funding distribution implications.

Effective timing
- Applies to the charter admissions cycle beginning in the 2024–2025 school year; becomes operative when the bill is enacted into law.