In North Carolina, can a school principal leave a school district to work at a charter school and use the same protected leave-of-absence statute that classroom teachers use, so they can come back later with their old career status?

Plain-English summary

NC's Charter School Act, G.S. § 115C-238.29A et seq., contains a protected leave-of-absence provision in § 115C-238.29F(e)(3). The provision requires a local school administrative unit (LEA) to grant a teacher's timely written request for an extended leave of absence to teach at a charter school. The leave can be any number of years and is renewable. If the teacher had career status (tenure) before the leave, they can return to a district position with career status, or onto a priority hire list if no position is available.

Attorney Douglas S. Punger asked the AG whether "teacher" in this subsection included principals and other school administrators. The AG said no. The leave-of-absence right belongs only to classroom teachers.

The textual case. Subsection (e)(3) uses "teacher" repeatedly. It never says "principal," "supervisor," or "school administrator." Other subsections of (e) use different words: subsection (e)(1) sets a certification percentage for "teachers" in particular grades, which clearly means classroom teachers. Subsection (e)(2) uses the broader "employee" to forbid LEAs from requiring any employee to be employed in a charter school. The drafter knew how to distinguish "teacher" from "employee" and chose "teacher" for the leave-of-absence right.

The cross-statute reading. The H.B.S. Contractors canon (a word in a statute is read in the context of surrounding words) reinforced the AG's reading. If "teacher" in (e)(2) clearly meant "classroom teacher," that meaning should carry over to (e)(3).

The Teacher Tenure Act caveat. G.S. § 115C-325(a)(6), the Teacher Tenure Act, defines "teacher" broadly and has been construed by Warren v. Buncombe County Board of Education, 80 N.C. App. 656 (1986), to include principals. The AG read past that. The Charter School Act has its own context, and § 115C-238.29E(f) expressly says charter schools are exempt from statutes applicable to LEAs except as the Charter School Act provides. There is no indication that the General Assembly intended to import the Teacher Tenure Act's broader "teacher" definition into the Charter School Act.

The legislative history. Since 1995, NC's Teacher Tenure Act has distinguished between newly employed school administrators and "teachers" (G.S. § 115C-287.1). The 1996 Charter School Act and 1997 amendments creating "career teacher," "career administrator," and "school administrator" categories show the legislature drawing clear lines between two distinct classes of school employees. The Charter School Act was passed when those lines were already being drawn.

Bottom line. A classroom teacher who wants to teach at a charter school has a guaranteed right to extended leave and career-status preservation. A principal does not. A principal who leaves for charter school work bears the risk that their old position will not be available, or available only without career status. The principal would need to negotiate any return arrangement with the LEA outside the protected statutory framework.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 1998. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

NC's career-status framework has been substantially restructured since 1998. The 2013 changes eliminated career status for most new teachers and shifted to renewable contracts (S.L. 2013-360, modified in subsequent sessions after litigation). The charter school leave-of-absence statute remains, but its operation interacts with the post-2013 employment framework. Anyone advising a principal considering a charter-school move should look at the current versions of § 115C-238.29F(e), the post-2013 career-status statutes, and any subsequent AG opinions.

Common questions

Q: What is a "leave of absence" under the Charter School Act?
A: A temporary release from active LEA employment that preserves the employee's right to return. Under § 115C-238.29F(e)(3), it applies to teachers moving to charter schools, with the LEA required to grant it on timely written request.

Q: Why didn't the General Assembly include principals?
A: The opinion doesn't speculate on motive. One possible reason: charter schools were a new structure in 1996, and the legislature wanted to ensure that talented classroom teachers, the largest job category, would not be deterred from joining charters by the risk of losing their LEA jobs. Principals are more senior and the legislature may have left their movement decisions to negotiation.

Q: What about counselors, librarians, or other certified personnel?
A: The opinion focuses on the teacher-vs-principal distinction. The same logic the AG used (the term "teacher" in this subsection means classroom teacher only) would likely exclude any non-teaching certified personnel. A counselor or librarian who wants to move to a charter school is not covered by the statutory leave-of-absence right.

Q: Could a principal still take an unpaid leave to work at a charter school?
A: Possibly, under whatever discretionary leave policy the LEA has. But the LEA is not required to grant it, and the principal has no statutory right to return with career status preserved.

Q: What if a principal's title changes during the leave to something more clearly "administrator"?
A: The opinion does not address this. The substance probably matters: if the person's duties at the time of the leave were principal duties, they fall outside the statute even if technically titled something else for a few months.

Q: Does the Charter School Act apply to private schools that get charter-like status?
A: No. The Act covers only schools chartered under § 115C-238.29A et seq., which are public schools by statutory definition.

Background and statutory framework

NC's Charter School Act of 1996 created a new category of public school operating outside the direct control of LEAs. To recruit teachers from existing LEAs to staff the new charter schools, the legislature added the protected leave-of-absence provision. Without it, a tenured teacher would face a difficult choice: give up career status to join a charter, or stay put. The leave-of-absence right reduced the personal risk and lubricated the labor market for the new sector.

The choice to limit the right to "teachers" rather than "all certified personnel" or "all school employees" is the kind of statutory line-drawing the AG had to interpret. The AG's reading is textually grounded and consistent with the surrounding subsections.

The Teacher Tenure Act's broader definition of "teacher" (which would include principals) traces to a different policy context: tenure rules where the legislature wanted a single procedural framework for dismissal and demotion of various certified personnel. The Charter School Act's narrower reading reflects a different purpose (recruiting classroom teachers to charter schools), where the broader sweep is not needed.

NC's 1997 statutory changes creating express "career teacher," "career administrator," and "school administrator" categories reinforced the legislature's interest in distinct treatment of teachers vs. administrators. Reading "teacher" in the Charter School Act as classroom teacher only is consistent with that broader direction in NC education law.

Citations

• N.C. Gen. Stat. § 115C-238.29A et seq. (Charter School Act)
• N.C. Gen. Stat. § 115C-238.29F(e)(3) (protected leave-of-absence for teacher moving to charter school)
• N.C. Gen. Stat. § 115C-238.29F(e)(1), (e)(2) (certification percentage; cannot require employees to work at charters)
• N.C. Gen. Stat. § 115C-238.29E(f) (charter schools exempt from LEA statutes except as provided)
• N.C. Gen. Stat. § 115C-287.1 (newly employed school administrator status, post-1995)
• N.C. Gen. Stat. § 115C-325 (Teacher Tenure Act, including post-1997 "career teacher" / "career administrator" categories)
• H.B.S. Contractors, Inc. v. Cumberland County Bd. of Educ., 122 N.C. App. 49, 468 S.E.2d 517 (1996) (statutory term interpreted in context of surrounding words)
• Warren v. Buncombe County Board of Education, 80 N.C. App. 656, 343 S.E.2d 225 (1986) (Teacher Tenure Act's "teacher" definition includes principals)

Source

• Landing page: https://ncdoj.gov/opinions/leaves-of-absence-for-principals-leaving-school-system-to-work-in-charter-schools/

Original opinion text

May 5, 1998

Douglas S. Punger
P. O. Box 2513
Winston-Salem, NC 27102

Re: Advisory Opinion; Leaves of Absence for Principals Leaving School System to Work in Charter Schools; G.S. § 115C-238.29F(e)(3)

Dear Mr. Punger:

The Charter School Act, G.S. § 115C-238.29A et seq., requires local school administrative units to grant a teacher's timely request for a leave of absence to teach in a charter school. G.S. § 115C-238.29F(e)(3). You have written to inquire whether, in the opinion of this office, the term "teacher" as used G.S. § 115C-238.29F(e)(3) includes school personnel other than the classroom teachers. It is our opinion that the General Assembly intended the term "teacher" as used in G.S. § 115C-238.29F(e)(3) to include only classroom teachers. Therefore, other school personnel, such as principals, are not entitled to the same leaves of absence granted teachers under this section.

G. S. 115C-238.29F(e)(3) provides:

If a teacher employed by a local school administrative unit makes a written request for an extended leave of absence to teach at a charter school, the local school administrative unit shall grant the leave. The local school administrative unit shall grant a leave for any number of years requested by the teacher, and shall extend the leave at the teacher's request. For the initial year of a charter school's operation, the local school administrative unit may require that the request for a leave or extension of leave be made up to 45 days before the teacher would otherwise have to report for duty. For subsequent years, the local school administrative unit may require that the request for a leave or extension of leave be made up to 90 days before the teacher would otherwise have to report for duty. A teacher who has career status under G.S. 115C-325 prior to receiving an extended leave of absence to teach at a charter school may return to a public school in the local school administrative unit with career status at the end of the leave of absence or upon the end of employment at the charter school if an appropriate position is available. If an appropriate position is unavailable, the teacher's name shall be placed on a list of available teachers and that teacher shall have priority on all positions for which that teacher is qualified in accordance with G.S. 115C-325(e)(2).

The cardinal rule of statutory construction is that a statute must be construed to effectuate the intent of the legislature. State v. Hart, 287 N.C. 76, 213 S.E.2d 291 (1975). In order to discern the legislative intent, courts look to the language of the statute, its spirit and its purpose. State ex rel. North Carolina Milk Com. v. National Food Stores, Inc., 270 N.C. 323, 154 S.E.2d 548 (1967). The intent of the legislature must be found from the language of the act, its legislative history and the circumstances surrounding its adoption. Id. Words are generally given their ordinary meaning, and courts will construe words in accordance with their meaning at the time of enactment. Southern Bell Tel. & Tel. Co. v. Clayton, 266 N.C. 687, 147 S.E.2d 195 (1966).

G.S. § 115C-238.29F(e)(3) refers only to "teachers"; not once is the term "principal" or "supervisor" or "school administrator" used in connection with the leave-of-absence provisions. To be sure, the leave-of-absence provisions are found in paragraph 3 of G.S. 115C-238.29F(e) entitled "Employees" and some provisions of that subsection are applicable to all school personnel. E.g., G.S. § 115C-238.29F(e)(2) ("No local board of education shall require any employee of the local school administrative unit to be employed in a charter school.") However, the General Assembly specifically limited the right to take a leave of absence to a particular subgroup of school employees, i.e., teachers. The General Assembly's ability to distinguish between "school employees" in general and "teachers" in particular is further illustrated by G.S. § 115C-238.29F(e)(1). That subsection specifies the percentage of "teachers" in various grades who must be certified. Insofar as the term "teacher" as used in G.S. § 115C-238.29F(e)(2) clearly means "classroom teacher," that meaning should be equally applicable to the same term as used in G.S. § 115C-238.29F(e)(3). H.B.S. Contractors, Inc. v. Cumberland County Bd. of Educ., 122 N.C. App. 49, 468 S.E.2d 517, 521 (1996) (a word in a statute should be interpreted in the context of and in reference to the meaning of other words in the statute with which it is associated).

Although the definition of "teacher" set forth in G.S. 115C-325 ("The Teacher Tenure Act") has been construed to encompass school employees other than classroom teachers, including principals, see Warren v. Buncombe County Board of Education, 80 N.C. App. 656, 343 S.E.2d 225 (1986), that definition is inapplicable to the Charter School Law. G.S. § 115C-238.29E(f) specifically provides that, "Except as provided in this Part and pursuant to the provisions of its charter, a charter school is exempt from statutes and rules applicable to a local board of education or local school administrative unit." There is nothing in the Charter School Act which would indicate that the General Assembly intended to import the definition of "teacher" as it appears in G.S. § 115C-325(a)(6) into the Charter School Act. Absent such indicators, it is our opinion that the legislature intended the term "teacher" as used in the Charter School Act to mean a classroom teacher.

It is also notable that in sections of Chapter 115C other than the Teacher Tenure Act, the General Assembly has clearly distinguished between teachers and principals in terms of their duties, qualifications, and rights. E.g., Articles 19 and 20 of Chapter 115C. Indeed, since 1995, no newly employed school administrator is deemed to be a "teacher" even for purposes of the Teacher Tenure Act. See G.S. 115C-287.1. Thus, at the time the Charter School Act was adopted in 1996, the term "teacher" as used in connection with teacher tenure no longer was considered as all-inclusive as it once had been. Further amendments in the 1997 legislative session defining "career teacher," "career administrator," and "school administrator" evidence a legislative intent that there be two distinct classifications of these school employees. See G.S. 115C-325 (1997).

In summary, G.S. § 115C-238.29F(e)(3) only provides for a leave of absence for "teachers" who want to "teach" at a charter school. In our opinion, the word "teacher" as used in that section is unambiguous and there is nothing that would evidence a legislative intent to give that term a broader definition.

We hope this adequately addresses your inquiry. Should you have further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us.

signed by:

Thomas J. Ziko
Special Deputy Attorney General

Laura E. Crumpler
Assistant Attorney General