Charter Schools: A Comprehensive Overview
Charter schools represent a significant and evolving part of the educational landscape in the United States and across the globe. These publicly funded schools operate with a degree of autonomy from traditional school districts, offering an alternative approach to education. This article delves into the nature of charter schools, their operation, their history, and the ongoing debates surrounding their effectiveness and equity.
Defining Charter Schools
Public vs. Charter schools are publicly funded schools that operate independently from their local district. According to the Education Commission of the States, charter schools are semi-autonomous public schools that receive public funds. They operate under a written contract with a state, district, or other entity (referred to as an authorizer or sponsor). This contract - or charter - details how the school will be organized and managed, what students will be expected to achieve, and how success will be measured. Advocates of the charter model state that they are public schools because they are open to all students and do not charge tuition. The “charter” that establishes each school is a contract detailing the school’s mission, program, performance goals, and methods of assessment. Charter schools are tuition-free public schools and enrollment is open to all students.
Operation and Management
Charter schools often operate and are maintained by a charter management organization (CMO). CMOs are typically non-profit organizations and provide centralized services for a group of charter schools. There are some for-profit education management organizations. Charter schools are held accountable by their authorizer.
Unlike traditional public schools, charter schools operate autonomously. Given the ability to operate through these agreements, individual charter schools can tailor their curriculum, academic focus, staffing ratios, discipline policies and other matters that, for other public schools, are decided at the school district or state board level. In exchange for that flexibility, charter schools are supposed to be accountable to parents and the state or local governments that authorize them.
Historical Context and Global Presence
Minnesota passed the first charter school law in the United States in 1991. The first of these to be approved, Bluffview Montessori School in Winona, Minnesota, opened in 1992. The first charter to operate was City Academy in St. Paul. As of December 2021, approximately 8,000 charter schools enrolled an estimated total of 3.7 million students nationwide. The numbers equate to 7.4% of total public school students. 291 new charter schools opened their doors in the 2021-22 school year, however the charter sector lost 15,047 students that year. Forty-four American states along with the District of Columbia implement legislation on state charter schools.
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The concept of charter schools is not limited to the United States. Several countries have adopted similar models of publicly funded, independently managed schools.
Australia: All Australian private schools have received some federal government funding since the 1970s. Since then they have educated approximately 30% of high school students.
Chile: Chile has a very long history of private subsidized schooling, akin to charter schooling in the United States. In 1981 a competitive voucher system in education was adopted. These vouchers could be used in public schools or private subsidized schools (which can be run for profit).
Denmark: Free primary schools have long existed in Denmark, often with roots in Grundtvig's folk high school movement. Around 75% of pupils' costs are covered by the public purse, with the remainder paid by parents. Some 90 000 pupils (15% of schoolchildren) attend Danish private schools.
United Kingdom: The United Kingdom established grant-maintained schools in England and Wales in 1988. They allowed individual schools that were independent of the local school authority.
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Finland: In 2007, there were 75 private general education schools in Finland. Most private schools follow the national curriculum. Tuition fees may not be charged in Finnish private schools (with the exception of some foreign language schools), but the schools are financed by per pupil grants from the state and municipalities.
Germany: The operation of private preschools, primary and secondary schools is permitted in accordance with Art. 7 of the Grundgesetz (German constitution). In return all private schools are supported financially by government bodies, comparable with charter schools.
Hong Kong: Some private schools in Hong Kong receive government subsidy under the Direct Subsidy Scheme (DSS). DSS schools are free to design their curriculum, select their own students, and charge for tuition.
Ireland: Irish Charter Schools were set up mostly in the 1700s by the Church of Ireland to educate the poor. They were state or charity sponsored, but run by the church.
New Zealand: Charter schools in New Zealand, labelled as Partnership schools | kura hourua, were allowed for after an agreement between the National Party and the ACT Party following the 2011 general election. All cater for students who have struggled in the normal state school system.
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Norway: As in Sweden, the publicly funded but privately run charter schools in Norway are named friskoler and was formally instituted in 2003, but dismissed in 2007.
Legislation and Governance
Laws governing charter schools vary greatly. In California, local school districts are the most frequent granters of school charters. If a local school district denies a charter application, or if the proposed charter school provides services not provided by the local school districts, a county board consisting of superintendents from state schools or the state board of education can grant a charter. The Arizona State Board for Charter Schools grants charters in Arizona. Local school districts and the state board of education can also grant charters.
Different states with charter school legislation have adopted widely different positions in regard to the conversion of private schools to charter schools. California, for example, does not allow the conversion of private schools into charter schools. Both Arizona and Michigan allow such conversions, but with different requirements. Legislation in Arizona stipulates that private schools that wish to become charter schools within that state must have admission policies that are fair and non-discriminatory. Charter schools were targeted as a major component of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002.
Typically, charter schools claim nonprofit status, but most operate in a for-profit system. Additionally, the buildings in which they operate are generally owned by private landlords. Accordingly, this asset class generates interest from real-estate investors as well as building contractors.
Cyber Charter Schools
Charter cyber schools operate like typical charter schools in that they are independently organized schools, but are conducted partly or entirely over the Internet. The increase of these online campuses has aroused controversy. In November 2015, researchers at the University of Washington, Stanford University, and the Mathematica Policy Research group published the first major study of online charter schools in the United States, the "National Study of Online Charter Schools". It found "significantly weaker academic performance" in mathematics and reading in such schools when compared to conventional ones. Four states have adopted specific legislation tailored to cyber charter schools. Cyber charter school diplomas have been unevenly valued by post-secondary institutions.
The Debate Over Effectiveness
There is dispute on whether charter schools are more effective than public schools. Several studies find that charter school students are generally more advanced in their education compared to their public school counterparts, and that especially disadvantaged children and children of color tend to perform better. Researchers at Stanford University’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes found that Black and Hispanic charter school students advanced more than their counterparts in traditional public schools "by large margins" in math and reading. They also found stronger "academic growth" among charter school students living in poverty and English-language learners, compared with similar students at traditional public schools.
However, a 2013 study by CREDO had found that traditional public school students performed either slightly better or the same as charter school students.
Equity and Access
Many charter schools were created as a way to close the achievement gap between white students and most students of color, experts say. Some still view that as a core mission.
Many of the same problems that plague traditional public schools, however, are found in charters.
Choosing a Charter School
For families able to consider charter schools, here are some things to know.
Specialization: Charter schools can offer specialized education. Some schools may focus on arts or STEM. Others focus on project-based learning, classical education or vocational training.
Visit and Ask Questions: Parents should tour the school, talk to administration and teachers, and ask to talk to a handful of parents who have their kids enrolled or have graduated to find out what it’s actually like.
Application Process: Families should be aware that charter schools have application deadlines, sometimes as early as November of the school year before kids would start.
Lotteries: However, charters often use lotteries for admission, which may still require advance planning. Also, how lotteries work can differ by locale, with some areas giving advantage to families who meet certain criteria.
Admissions Preferences: "Most also have clauses in their charters to give preference for siblings and/or other groups of students," Valant says, noting that such admissions practices may also present inequitable scenarios for families. "So they do not and cannot always take any child that wants to attend, whereas traditional public schools do have to take all students."
*Factor in a school's graduation rate and college attendance rate, along with the curriculum type, its mission and discipline policy. Also consider extracurricular activities, which may be limited at some charter schools compared to traditional public schools.
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