Charter Schools

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Charter Schools
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What is a Charter School?

• Charter schools are public schools that are
  granted a specific amount of autonomy, determined
  by state law or the specific charter, to make
  decisions concerning the organizational
  structure, curriculum, and educational emphasis
  of their school. Charter schools are granted
  waivers from certain regulations that bind public
  schools.

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What is a Charter School?

• In return for this additional autonomy, charter
  schools are held accountable for the academic
  achievement of the students in the charter
  school, and the school faces suspension or
  closure within a determined period of time if
  accepted performance standards are not met.

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How is a charter school different from

• A voucher program?
• A magnet school?

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Where did the idea for charters come from?
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The Beginnings,late 1960s-early 1970s

• Educators across the nation, particularly in
  northern cities, worked to create community-based
  public schools that would meet the needs of
  low-income and minority students in their
  neighborhoods. They fought with local school
  boards to have control over the schools they
  created.

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Next Steps

• Educator Ray Budde, Education by Charter
  Restructuring School Districts (1988)
• Teachers should be given the authority to explore
  and develop new approaches to educating children
  with public funds, with minimal state
  intervention.

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Popularization

• American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President
  Albert Shankar described the idea at the National
  Press Club speech in 1988.
• The AFT saw charters as a tool to create a more
  professional workforce of teachers, by empowering
  teachers at the school site.

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Key Tenets of the Charter Movement in the Early
Days

• Trust in the professional judgment and experience
  of teachers
• Continual commitment to inquiry and development
  by teachers, in a search for educational
  solutions
• A substantial, but defined, time period to allow
  initiatives to evolve and flourish (3-5 years,
  5-10 years)

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Expansion and Experimentation

• Minnesota Charter School Law, 1991 eight
  teacher-created and operated, outcome-based
  charter schools free of most state laws and state
  and local education rules, for three years.
• Currently, 40 states and DC have charter school
  legislation.

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Changes in the Charter School Movement

• Both for-profit and nonprofit education
  management companies management of charter
  schools is increasing due to economies of scale,
  start-up funds, more polished applications
• Lack of funding mean that private businesses and
  foundations provide support to charter schools.

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Supporters of Charter Schools

• Those interested in creating better public
  schools
• Those who want to create elite options within the
  public school system
• Those who wish to privatize the public school
  system but settle for public school choice instead

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Opponents of Charter Schools

• Those who worry that charter schools will drain
  resources or commitment to public school systems
• Teachers unions (as charter schools have become
  increasingly managed by EMOs).

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Rules Charter Schools must abide by

• Tuition-free
• Not religious
• Federal civil rights legislation cannot
  discriminate on the basis of gender, race,
  ethnicity, and religion in the admissions process
• Health and safety laws

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Other issues regarding charter schools autonomy
from regulations depend on specific state laws.
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Issues regarding Charter Schools

• Who can grant a charter to a school? Are there
  multiple grantees of charters (universities, city
  councils, state education boards), or are they
  limited?
• What is the case in New Jersey?

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Issues regarding Charter Schools

• Can teachers not certified by the state teach in
  charter schools or are charter school teachers
  held to the same certification requirements as
  all other public school teachers?
• What is the case in New Jersey?

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Issues regarding Charter Schools

• Are charter schools free of collective bargaining
  agreements made between local school boards and
  teachers unions?
• What is the case in New Jersey?

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Collective Bargaining Agreements include

• Planning time and other scheduling issues
• The benefits of seniority
• Tenure
• Pay and other benefits (medical, retirement)

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Issues regarding Charter Schools

• Does the state legislature limit the number of
  charter schools that can be formed?
• What is the case in New Jersey?

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Issues regarding Charter Schools

• How are charter schools funded?
• no public money?
• equal money to public schools?
• money follows the pupil the district or state
  transfers a per-pupil sum to the charter school?
• What is the case in New Jersey?

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Funding

• Funding formulas have disadvantaged charter
  schools in virtually all the states.
• In only a few states is the per-pupil funding as
  great as in traditional schools.
• Pervasive lack of start-up funds

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Issues regarding Charter Schools

• Are charter school laws designed to discourage
  racial and socioeconomic segregation?
• What is the case in New Jersey?

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Issues Regarding Charter Schools

• Do charter schools have to admit students with
  special needs (handicapped, limited English
  proficiency, special education)?
• What is the case in New Jersey?

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What is the effect of the New Jersey charter
school legislation on charter schools?
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Problems with Charter Schools Accountability

• Lack of oversight, particularly performance-based
  oversight
• Example in Massachusetts, a model for oversight
  and performance-based accountability, virtually
  no charter schools have been shut down solely for
  performance.

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Problems of Charter Schools Funding

• Lack of startup funds for new schools
• Capital costs of school buildings
• Problems of economies of scale
• Higher salaries of special education teachers
  have acted as disincentives to serving special
  needs students.
• Charter schools are dependent on private sources
  of funding to supplement public sources.

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Findings from Charter Schools Isolation from
Public Schools

• There is little communication between public and
  charter schools so innovation does not spread.
• Public schools feel very little competition with
  charter schools.
• They have been more associated with creating
  elite islands than with strengthening the
  public school system as a whole.

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Findings from Charter Schools Equity

• Some charter schools do not use random selection
  in admissions.
• Charter schools tend to be more racially diverse
  than public schools.
• New Jersey charter schools enrolled more
  African-Americans (68) than their districts of
  residence (50) and served lower percentages of
  Hispanic, white, and Asian students.
• No charters have been revoked for schools which
  did not meet the ethnic balance of the district.

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Findings from Charter Schools, Equity

• Charter schools tend to enroll slightly fewer
  students with special needs and
  limited-English-proficient students than public
  schools in the state.
• New Jersey charter schools have fewer students
  with educational disabilities (7.7) than in the
  same districts of residence (15.6). Also, the
  number receiving a free or reduced priced lunch
  was slightly lower (63) than students in
  districts of residence (70).

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Immigrants see Charter Schools as a Haven, New
York Times, 9 January 2009
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Findings from Charter Schools Achievement

• The record on academic achievement from charter
  schools is a mixed bag. Some charter schools
  outperform public schools, while others do worse.

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Study of 4th and 8th grade math scores of 340,000
students in 13,000 regular, private, and charter
schools (2006)

• Based on 2003 National Assessment of Educational
  Progress
• Charter school students do considerably worse
  than public schools in 4th grade in 8th grade,
  they did slightly better but small sample and not
  statistically significant.

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No Child Left Behind (2001)

• Those that have failed to meet the benchmarks for
  test scores will face, among other things, the
  possibility of conversion to charter schools.

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Are charter schools a solution to educational
inequality? Will they help to create a more
meritocratic system?