While some North Carolina charters specifically focus on teaching Black and Latino students from lower-income families, state data shows North Carolina charter schools tend to be whiter, wealthier, and teach fewer students with special needs than traditional public school districts. Around 35% of students at Piedmont Community Charter School — the state’s 5th largest charter school — qualified as low-income during the 2018-19 school year while the rate at the surrounding Gaston County Schools is approximately 65%. North Carolina law states charters should “make efforts for the population of the school to reasonably reflect the ethnic and racial composition” of the general population within their local school district, a target many charters currently aren’t meeting.