Question: What are charter schools? How common are they, and whom do they serve?

A public charter school is a publicly funded school that is typically governed by a group or organization under a legislative contract (or charter) with the state, district, or other entity. The charter exempts the school from certain state or local rules and regulations. In return for flexibility and autonomy, the charter school must meet the accountability standards outlined in its charter. A school’s charter is reviewed periodically by the entity that granted it and can be revoked if guidelines on curriculum and management are not followed or if the accountability standards are not met.1

Charter School 1

The first law allowing the establishment of public charter schools was passed in Minnesota in 1991.2 As of fall 2015, charter school legislation had been passed in 43 states and the District of Columbia.3 The states in which public charter school legislation had not been passed by that time were Kentucky, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, and West Virginia.

Between school years 2000–01 and 2015–16, the percentage of all public schools that were charter schools increased from 2 to 7 percent, and the total number of charter schools increased from 2,000 to 6,900. In addition to increasing in number, public charter schools have also generally increased in enrollment size over this period: from 2000–01 to 2015–16, the percentages of public charter schools with 300–499, 500–999, and 1,000 or more students each increased, while the percentage of charter schools with fewer than 300 students decreased.

Charter School 2

The percentage of all public school students who attended public charter schools increased from 1 to 6 percent between fall 2000 and fall 2015. During this period, public charter school enrollment increased steadily, from 0.4 million students in fall 2000 to 2.8 million students in fall 2015, an overall increase of 2.4 million students. In contrast, the number of students attending traditional public schools increased by 1.3 million between fall 2000 and fall 2005 and then decreased by 0.6 million between fall 2005 and fall 2015.

Percentage of all public school students enrolled in public charter schools, by state: Fall 2015

Charter School Map

 

# Rounds to zero.

NOTE: Categorizations are based on unrounded percentages.

Posted by Charles Fisher and Randy Fisher, for more info hit us up at RandyKFisher@gmail.com.

Special thanks to NCES-National Center for Education Statistics

 

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