The State Board of Education has given preliminary approval for a second charter school in Vance County, one of the school’s founders said Thursday.Eric Sanchez said their application for Henderson Collegiate won the second highest number of votes from the board and was first choice for 4 of its 9 members.

Before final approval, the school’s progress toward developing bylaws, policies and procedures will be reviewed in March 2010, he said.

Sanchez, who will be the principal, expects the school to open in August 2010.

Plans call for opening with only a fourth grade with 100 students and then adding a grade each year, he said. The first year will require 5 teachers, 4 of whom will teach reading, writing, math and nonfiction studies. The fifth will be a special education teacher.

The focus of the school will be on students who are at risk of underachieving, he said. Transportation for students will be provided, as will breakfast and lunch.

Sanchez said he and the school’s 9-member board of directors are looking at locations for the school, which will be in downtown Henderson.

Additionally, he said, he will create a Web site, submit an application for nonprofit status, search for grants and recruit the staff.

The application process started in February, Sanchez said. That was followed by an interview by an SBE committee in May and then the vote on Thursday.

Henderson Collegiate will be the second charter school in Vance. The other is Vance Charter, which is located in the Henderson Mall complex on Dabney Drive.

A charter school is a publicly funded school that operates under a private, nonprofit board rather than under the authority of the local board of education.

Charter schools are allowed to operate under a locally tailored set of rules rather than the more rigid structure that traditional public schools must follow.

Henderson Collegiate competed Thursday with six other schools.

North Carolina has a limit of 100 charter schools statewide, so new proposals are only considered when schools that were already in business are closed. Three closures created the opportunity for Henderson Collegiate’s supporters.