Charter schools are independent public schools authorized through a charter agreement with a sponsor, —usually a school district, state governmental body, or university. Unlike traditional public schools, charter schools are overseen by a governing board of parents and members of the local community. Charter schools have greater autonomy over daily operations, academic programs, and human resources than do traditional district schools. For example, charter schools can select their own philosophy, pedagogy, curricula, textbooks, and supporting materials. They have considerable freedom over how they hire, train, evaluate, compensate, and retain employees. Charter schools oversee their own budgets including capital construction and maintenance costs. And, like other public schools, charter schools must adhere to state and federal laws regarding civil rights, students with disabilities, testing, reporting and other state accountability measures, and building and safety codes.

In addition to complying with these laws, charter schools are accountable to the public in two other significant ways. First, charter schools must renew their charter contract with the authorizer after a set period of time such as every three years, five years, or 10 years. Authorizers have the opportunity to scrutinize the charter school’s academic performance, operational management and finances. A charter school that fails to meet the terms of its charter contract may be shut down. Second, charter schools face another level of accountability; they must be able to attract parents and students with an appealing education alternative. If the school fails to create high academic expectations and a nurturing, safe environment, it risks not being able to attract a sufficient number of students to remain viable.

Charter schools educate students in 39 states and the District of Columbia. Since Minnesota passed the first charter school law in 1991, the number of charter schools has increased to more than 4,900 schools, educating more than 1.5 million students.1 Charter schools are a fast-growing sector of public education; 419 new charter schools opened in the 2009-2010 school year. Even with a high growth trend, the number of charter schools cannot keep up with the demand. About 365,000 students are on waiting lists to get into charter schools.

Every southern state except Alabama and Kentucky has charter schools. In Mississippi, where the state’s charter law expired in 2009, a new law was passed in April 2010 to establish a process for converting failing public schools into charter schools, providing a majority of local parents agree to the conversion.4 The new law, though, has received intense criticism from charter school advocates because it contains restrictions that were not in the earlier law that expired and limits to 12 the total number of schools that could be established statewide in a six-year period.

Around the nation, Louisiana and California have eliminated caps on the number of charter schools in their states, and Illinois and Tennessee lawmakers have increased the number of charter schools that can be opened in their states. Efforts to extend or remove caps are also underway in
Connecticut, Delaware, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, New York, Ohio, and Rhode Island.

Filed Under : K-12 Education, Solutions