HB514 expansion for Cornelius and Huntersville has support from local legislators

Earlier this week, the Boards of Cornelius and Huntersville voted to have their towns added to a local bill working its way through the NCGA that would allow select municipalities to start their own charter schools.  So called "local bills" only impact specific jurisdictions rather than having statewide impact.  Up until Huntersville and Cornelius asked to be added this bill, if passed as-is HB514 would only impact Matthews and Mint Hill.

Friday morning the inclusion of the two North Mecklenburg towns received public endorsement from the area's members of the General assembly.  This came in a press release from Senator Jeff Tarte's office.

"House Bill 514 provides the municipalities of Matthews and Mint Hill legislative authority to operate charter schools, if they so choose. HB514 has already passed the House and is currently waiting to be considered by the Senate.

The Town boards of Cornelius and Huntersville have passed formal resolutions requesting that their respective municipality be added to HB514.

The four specific municipalities that are requesting this legislation are in my current Senate district, and the Towns of Cornelius and Huntersville are in Representative Bradford’s House district. We both offer our full support of the recently passed resolutions and respectfully request the bill sponsor and NCGA leadership to amend HB514 to include the municipalities of Cornelius and Huntersville."

aShortChronicle has been following this story since the beginning - wondering if HB514 would eventually gain support beyond its initial focus.  See this post from April 2017 when the bill was first filed.  It is interesting to see how this bill has progressed since its introduction - gathering aupport from other parts of Mecklenburg County.  In addition to this press release, County Commissioner Jim Puckett stated his support for the bill in an email received today at aShortChronicle saying "adding choice and opportunity to the public is NEVER a bad idea".  Puckett represents North Mecklenburg on the county commission.  With Town, County, and State representatives supporting the addition of more municipalities to HB514 it would seem likely that very well may happen when the General Assembly reconvenes next week.