October 3, 2002 | Read Time: 4 minutes
Charter schools are public schools that are free of many local and state regulations that govern traditional
public institutions. But charter schools are held more accountable than conventional ones for their performance.
The name derives from the fact that schools are granted charters by a state or local board of education, special charter-school board, or so-called charter authorizer — an entity such as a nonprofit group, government agency, or university with state authority to grant charters.
Charters are renewable performance contracts that allow institutions to operate as public schools and receive government funds, as long as they meet performance standards agreed upon by the schools and the entities granting the charters. Typically, charters must be renewed every three to five years.
Like regular public schools, charter schools are nonsectarian, do not charge tuition, and must admit all students, regardless of ability. Students can choose to enroll instead of attending a traditional neighborhood school. Charter institutions include elementary, middle, and high schools, as well as some schools that span a wider range of grades, such as kindergarten through eighth grade. If the number of students wanting to attend a charter school exceeds the available spaces, the school typically grants admission through a lottery or on a first-come, first-served basis.
Charter schools tend to have more control than regular public schools over such areas as personnel issues, including collective bargaining; teacher certification; curriculum; budget; discipline; organization of classes and grade levels; and length of the school day, week, and year.
Operating in 36 States
In 1991 Minnesota became the first state to pass a law authorizing the creation of charter schools. The first charter school, City Academy, opened in St. Paul in 1992. Today about 2,700 schools operate in 36 states and the District of Columbia. Three additional states have passed legislation allowing charter schools, but have none in operation.
The Center for Education Reform, a charter-advocacy group in Washington that tracks enrollment figures, estimated that 580,000 students attended charter schools during the 2001-2 school year, when about 2,400 charter schools were operating. That represents about 1.2 percent of all pupils in public elementary and secondary schools in the United States, based on 2000 data from the federal National Center for Education Statistics.
State and local financing of charter schools is usually based on enrollment, but other factors can influence the amount of support. States such as Arizona provide a set amount per pupil, minus 3 to 5 percent for oversight expenses. Other states require charter schools to negotiate the per-pupil figure with authorizing entities, leading to variations in government support.
Like regular public schools, charter schools are eligible to receive federal money tied to the makeup of their student populations. For example, they can receive federal money if they educate large numbers of poor children. They also can compete for federal grants for a wide range of needs, including teacher training, libraries, and bilingual education.
In general, charter schools do not receive government money to acquire, build, or renovate facilities.
Small Classes
Charter schools are in great demand among students and their parents partly because they tend to have smaller numbers of students than traditional schools, according to a 2000 study for the U.S. Department of Education by RPP International, a research and consulting company. The typical charter school has 137 students, compared with 475 in a conventional public school, the study says. In addition, charter schools often group students in nontraditional ways, such as in multigrade classrooms, and many have a theme or unifying focus, such as the arts, math and science, or other disciplines.
Not all charter schools succeed financially or academically, however. The Center for Education Reform, in Washington, reports that as of December 2000, 86 charter schools had closed since the charter-school movement began in 1992; 26 were consolidated into their local school districts; and 50 entities received charters but never opened.
A study by the Brookings Institution released last month found that students at 376 charter schools in 10 states scored significantly lower on state tests measuring basic reading and math skills, compared with students attending traditional public schools.
However, Tom Loveless, director of Brookings’s Brown Center on Education Policy, who led the study, said that the lower scores are not necessarily the result of how the schools teach, but could be “because charter schools are drawing low-achieving kids in the first place.” Several states, including Texas, use charter schools to help students who haven’t done well in traditional schools.
Other studies have shown more promising results. A 2001 study by the Goldwater Institute, in Phoenix, of 60,000 students in Arizona charter schools found that the longer students were enrolled in them, the greater their academic achievement.
