Exclusive: Pat McCrory appointee helps Biden restrict charter schools

A North Carolina school board member appointed by former Republican governor Pat McCrory appears to be backing the Biden administration on anti-school choice policies.

McCrory, who is running for the open North Carolina Senate seat, appointed Eric Davis to the state school board in late 2014. Davis has been the school board chair since 2018.

As The Spectator World reported in March, Davis was responsible for pushing Critical Race Theory in statewide education curricula, including approving a vote on teaching CRT to disabled pre-schoolers. He has referred to racism as a “social pandemic” and stated that “schools are not immune from these societal imperfections which diminish the education of every child in our state.”

He continues to flex his muscles as chair, now supporting the Biden administration in its efforts to make it more difficult for charter schools to receive federal funding. In a letter obtained by The Spectator World, Davis writes to education secretary Miguel Cardona about the proposed regulations. He notes that North Carolina State Superintendent Catherine Truitt recently came out in opposition to increased burdens on charter schools, but that he and other board members do not agree with her position.

“Under the First Amendment, the Superintendent is certainly free to express her personal opinion on such matters,” Davis writes. “However, the State Board was not involved in drafting or approving, or even aware of prior to its filing, the letter sent by the State Superintendent. Therefore, the State Superintendent’s letter does not represent the position of the State Board of Education.”

Eric Davis letter to Secretary Cardona by Amber Athey on Scribd

Davis goes on to accuse Truitt of including “inaccuracies” about the North Carolina public school system in her letter.

The Biden administration’s proposed federal rule would, among other things, require charter schools to demonstrate “sufficient demand” for their services by proving that public schools in the area are over-enrolled. However, public school enrollments are down across the country due to a myriad of factors, including parental frustration with pandemic-era distance learning. This does not mean there isn’t a demand for charters — particularly considering how many parents switched to homeschooling or moved their children to private schools over the past two years.

The new rule would also make charter schools seeking funding to indicate how they would ensure racially and socioeconomically diverse staff and student bodies. Public schools presumably do not have to abide by the same criteria.

Corey DeAngelis, the National Director of Research for the American Federation for Children, said that the proposed Biden regulations “are a form of one-sided disarmament.”

“It’s an attempt to protect government school monopoly at the expense of families,” DeAngelis said. “The Biden administration is waging war on charter schools. But it’s more importantly waging war on parents. And families with children in charter schools are more likely to be nonwhite and low-income than their government school counterparts.”

The McCrory campaign previously told The Spectator World that the former governor does not agree with how Davis has conducted himself on the state school board, but insisted he had a conservative record prior to his appointment.

“Governor McCrory strongly disagrees with the approach to education Mr. Davis has taken since being reappointed by Governor Cooper. It is inconsistent with the conservative reputation he had before he was appointed by Governor McCrory, and it is inconsistent with Governor McCrory’s perspective on education, particularly as it relates to CRT and related issues,” Jordan Shaw, an advisor for McCrory’s Senate campaign, said in March.

Ted Budd, McCrory’s opponent in the Senate race, has spoken out against the proposed regulations on charter schools in his own letter to Secretary Cardona.

“These sorts of burdensome requirements would never be applied to school systems beholden to powerful teachers unions that organize against the interests of families and students,” Budd said, according to Breitbart.