Professor Tom Kelley of the Community Development Law Clinic recently published an article in the North Carolina Law Review on "North Carolina Charter Schools' (Non-?) Compliance with State and Federal Nonprofit Law." It was highlighted in a post on PrawfsBlawg in November, in which Professor Brian Frye of the University of Kentucky College of Law wrote:
I really enjoyed reading - and was deeply troubled by - this article. I am agnostic about the merits of charter schools, and my sense is that Kelley is as well. But his detective work very strongly suggests that some NC charter schools are flagrantly violating state and federal charity law, not only by failing to satisfy governance standards, but possibly (& quite plausibly) by providing private benefits & possibly even by distributing assets. And the main reason we don't know is because the worst offenders refused to provide relevant (or any) documents. This should come as no great surprise, as there is a lot of money on the table & little or no oversight. But still, I found Kelley's findings quite shocking.
But in addition, I would suggest that the article could be a fantastic teaching tool for nonprofits classes. Kelley provides refreshingly clear and concise explanations of many of the most important doctrines relating to charitable purpose and the fiduciary duties of board members, and then proceeds to apply them to rigorously documented & crisply described factual scenarios. I highly recommend this article.
Congrats to Professor Kelley on this recognition of his scholarship!
Community Development Law Clinic
Posted by Thomas A. Kelley III (Tom) on Tue. December 8, 2015 2:35 PM
Categories:
Scholarship