While students in Durham Public Schools (DPS) started the new school year online Monday, the constitutionality of learning centers the North Carolina school district plans on opening is being questioned.
DPS said classrooms, dubbed learning centers, will open at six schools where students can get support with online coursework. Parents can send children to the learning centers for $140 a week and a $35 registration fee.
“Learning centers provide students a safe space to participate in their online learning facilitated by their assigned classroom teacher(s) in their home school,” DPS wrote on its website. “Learning centers staff is available to support students with their online learning and also provide a well-rounded experience throughout the day.”
DPS includes schools in the city and county of Durham, where the property owners are subject to an average property tax of $1.1599 per hundred dollars of the property’s assessed value.
About $135 million of the district’s 2020-2021 budget comes from local revenue, which is primarily sales and property taxes. It covers instructional programs and building maintenance and operations, according to DPS budget documents.
State and federal funds also support DPS’ operational and instructional costs. DPS received $230 million from the state for the 2020-2021 school year, mostly generated from state income and sales tax. The district also received $37.1 million in federal grants for schools with a high proportion of children from low-income households or students with disabilities.
North Carolina Senate President Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, said Monday the DPS learning centers fee violates the state’s constitution.
“Durham, and any other jurisdiction charging this illegal tax, is preventing underprivileged families from accessing public school resources,” Berger said. “They need to repeal their unconstitutional school tax immediately.”
North Carolina’s constitution requires the state to provide “a general and uniform system of free public schools … wherein equal opportunities shall be provided for all students.”
John Locke Foundation Director of Legal Studies Jon Guze said, although he is not familiar with case law, DPS’ centers operate contrary to what the constitution states.
“First, Durham is charging for the services it provides at the learning centers,” Guze said. “Second, Durham is not providing those services equally to all students.”
Jeanette Doran, president of the North Carolina Institute for Constitutional Law, said the learning center fee on its surface seems unconstitutional, but she has questions about staffing, the budget and price point for the fee.
“Who exactly is going to be in there?” Doran said.
Guze said he believes DPS will argue the “support” it will provide does not constitute “teaching,” which means the learning centers are not schools, based on the law.
“I don’t know whether that argument would succeed in court,” he said. “Maybe we’ll soon find out.”
Doran, through a public records request, asked DPS to send her details about operational cost for the learning centers, hiring procedures and selection and COVID-19 requirements. She wants to know how DPS is justifying charging the fee.
“There’s a constitutional right to a free public education,” Doran said. “We cannot allow public schools to become refuges for the elite, who can come up with $140 every week for each student.”
The district is offering a 50 percent discount for students on free or reduced lunch and an economy-adjusted discount for other low-income households.
According to DPS’ latest numbers, about 65 percent of the district’s students qualify for free or reduced lunch.
The district also is accepting existing Durham County Department of Social Services vouchers.
DPS employees get 25 a percent discount, and parents pay $10 less for any additional siblings after the first child is registered.
DPS, the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and the North Carolina State Board of Education did not respond to a request for comment Monday.
