What
are Charter Schools?The following are answers to frequently asked questions (FAQ) regarding charter schools and what they mean for students, educators, schools and communities. The answers to these FAQs are intended to provide only an introductory overview of key issues. Links are provided to take you to areas with additional information.
What
are Charter Schools?
Charter schools are independent public schools, designed and operated by educators, parents, community leaders, educational entrepreneurs and others. They are sponsored by designated local or state educational organizations who monitor their quality and integrity, but allow them to operate freed from the traditional bureaucratic and regulatory red tape that hog-ties public schools. Freed from such micromanagement, charter schools design and deliver programs tailored to educational excellence and community needs. Because they are schools of choice, they are held to the highest level of accountability – consumer demand.
How
Do Charter Schools Differ From Traditional District Public Schools?
Charter schools operate from 3 basic principles:
Why
Are Charter Schools So Popular?
Charters provide opportunity for better child-centered education. They provide the chance for communities to create the greatest range of educational choices for their children. Operators have the opportunity and the incentive to create schools that provide new and better services to students. And charters, bound only by the high standards they have set for themselves, inspire the rest of the system to work harder and be more responsive to the needs of the children.
How
Are Charter Schools Funded?
Charter schools are public schools. Most charters are created by groups of educators, parents and community leaders. Some have been converted from existing public schools. A small number of charter schools were once private schools. Like district public schools, they are funded according to enrollment (also called average daily attendance, or ADA), and receive funding from the district and the state according to the number of students attending. However, in a number of states, they do not receive the full equivalent of their district counterparts: Minnesota charters only receive the state portion (about 75% of a district school’s total per-pupil allocation); charters in New Jersey and Colorado also receive less than 100% of the per-pupil funding. In other states, charters must negotiate their funding in their charter contract, often below the level of funding of their district counterparts. In Arizona, charter students are funded at about 80% of their district peers.
Unlike traditional district schools, most charter schools do not receive funding to cover the cost of securing a facility. Conversion schools begin with established capital, namely the school and its facilities. A few states provide capital funding to start-up schools, and some start-up schools are able to take over available unused district space, but most must rely on other, independent means. Recent federal legislation provides funding to help charters with start-up costs, but the task remains imposing.
How
Do Charter Schools Manage if They are Underfunded?
Necessity, as the mother of invention, is inspiring innovation in this area.
Facilities and Other Start-Up and Capital Costs:
Many charter schools improvise by converting spaces such as rented retail facilities, former churches, lofts and warehouses, into classroom, cafeteria, assembly and gym space, supplemented by the local YMCA, the public library and park, and the diner down the street. Once they are more established they are able to acquire loans and move to more suitable or permanent facilities. State legislation and loan agencies are beginning to tackle this problem by providing start-up funding and providing charter schools with the information needed to obtain favorable loans.
The same is true of capital needs beyond bricks and mortar. School founders have managed on an ad hoc basis with the help of private funds or alternative credit routes, and especially the sweat equity of enthusiastic volunteers, parents and local professionals. The charter concept has become more recognized and successful, banks and corporations have developed ways to provide capital to charter schools at favorable rates.
Operational costs:
Charter schools receive a portion of the state and district operating funds generally based on student enrollment counts. The portion is determined by the state legislation, and, in some states, is negotiated in the charter contract. For example, a state’s charter legislation determines that a percentage or up to a percentage of operating funds follows the students. The actual acquisition of that funding however, falls upon the charter school operators – sometimes no small task. For example, soon after Vaughn Next Century Learning Center Charter School (San Fernando, CA) opened, Chan charged that the district had shortchanged the school $811 per pupil. State funding called for $3,111 per pupil, but the district delivered $2,300. LAUSD responded that elementary schools receive less than junior and high schools. Moreover, a legal settlement that equalized funding for suburban and urban schools hampered further funding. Chan felt that violated the intention of the charter contract. She sent back the check and prepared to operate the school with a second mortgage on her house. In the midst of the controversy, Assemblyman Richard Katz drafted a bill requiring the district to give Vaughn 95 % of the money it received from the state for its pupils and the school board backed down and paid Vaughn an additional $500 per student. The law set a precedent for charters' per pupil fund allocation. Says Chan: “We got that money because we went to war.”
Categorical aid:
Also significant in operational expenses are categorical federal education grant funds. These funds generally follows one of two routes before reaching schools: (1) either distributed directly by the U.S. Department of Education through its own application process, or (2) channeled through state education agencies that then distribute the funds in a variety of ways. Typically, state agencies distribute funds based on whether a charter school is recognized as its own local education authority or not. If it is recognized as such, then charter schools may receive the money directly. The route is ultimately determined by the state legislation.
Do
Charter Schools Take Money from Public Schools?
Charter schools are public schools. When a child leaves for a charter school the money follows that child. This benefits the public school system by instilling a sense of accountability into the system regarding its services to the student and parents and its fiscal obligations. Fiscally, charter schools have demonstrated efficiency. For example, CBS’ "Sixty Minutes" ran a story on Yvonne Chan, the energetic principal of a San Fernando Valley’s Vaughn Next Century Charter School. The local school district, one of the largest and most bureaucratic in the nation, typically took a year to buy computers for its classrooms. Ms. Chan thought that was ridiculous. It took her charter school six days to purchase computers, and for less money. As a result, the Los Angeles Unified School District revised its purchasing system. Overall, in its first year of operation, Vaughn Next Century generated, through operational changes and efficiencies, a $1 million plus surplus, which it used to expand facilities to benefit both students and staff.
For more information on common misconceptions surrounding charter schools, see Charter School Myths and Realities: Answering the Critics, excerpted from The Charter School Workbook: Your Roadmap to the Charter School Movement.
How
Do Charter Schools Impact the Public School System?
Charter schools provide a variety of services to children that places healthy pressure on the district to provide equal or better services. For example, 5,000 students attend 20 charter schools within the boundaries of the Mesa School District, AZ (one of the better districts in Arizona). In response, the district purchased an ad in the local paper touting their services and academic accomplishments. It may purchase bus advertisements and billboards next year in an effort to keep pace with charter school innovation. As the focus continues to shift from the needs of the system to the needs of children and parents, the children of Arizona are better served. “It’s public education in the finest sense of the word: it serves the public, not the bureaucracy,” says Lisa Keegan, the state superintendent of education.
In the struggle to provide school choice to Detroit parents, the Detroit Public Schools Superintendent David Snead said, "We're finding the charter idea is helping encourage other schools in our district to examine what they are doing. I don't agree with those who are defensive. We are proud of many things about the Detroit schools. But we can, and must do better. Charter schools are helping us move in the right direction."
In 1993, The Bowling Green Elementary School, one of the most troubled schools in the Sacramento City Unified School District, converted to charter status. With hard work and the fiscal flexibility allowed to charters, the school has climbed from the basement to the middle of the pack. Its success with some of the most challenging student populations has sent a message to the system, and the district is listening. The SCUSD is planning an ambitious district wide accountability plan for 1998. “It’s great in the sense it’s a charter plan for the whole district. It’s really a plan to move ahead,” says Dennis Mah, principal of Bowling Green Elementary. “It gets exhausting inventing solutions on your own.”
For more on the positive impact of charter schools, see CHARTER SCHOOLS TODAY: Changing the Face of American Education.
Do
Charter Schools Work?
Yes. In addition to the positive pressure they put on the public school system as a whole, charter schools satisfy and serve their primary constituents (teachers, parents, and students) by providing exciting and viable new educational in an inclusive, individual manner. The Center for Education Reform’s 1996-1997 Charter School Survey found that 65% of the charters surveyed had a waiting list, averaging 135 students. The Hudson Institute’s 1997 report Charter Schools in Action also found high satisfaction levels. Among its major findings:
(Link to the full report: Charter Schools in Action Project Final Report, 1997)
Charter schools serve their constituents well. Academic rigor is one of the primary reasons for the charter school movement. While it’s too early to measure charter schools’ broad academic success, anecdotal evidence suggests that students are learning and excelling.
For more on charter school successes, see CHARTER SCHOOLS TODAY: Changing the Face of American Education.
For a summary of charter school research findings -- overwhelmingly supporting the viability and success of charters -- see WHAT THE RESEARCH REVEALS ABOUT CHARTER SCHOOLS.
Where
Can I Find Charter Legislation and Charter Schools?
As of Fall 2002, nearly 2,700 charter schools are operating in 36 states and the District of Columbia, serving over 684,000 students. CER has graded the country's 40 charter school laws, ranking them from A to F (click here for the latest grades and rankings).
For more on charter school law profiles and rankings, see About Charter School Legislation and Laws, excerpted from The Charter School Workbook: Your Roadmap to the Charter School Movement.
For a current tally of exactly where charter schools are up and running, see Charter School Highlights and Statistics. For a profile of operating and approved charters schools around the nation, see CER's National Charter School Directory.
For More
Information, See About Charter Schools.
From CER's publications
list you can order: CHARTER SCHOOLS
TODAY: Changing the Face of American Education; Charter School Information
Pack; The
Charter School Workbook: Your Roadmap to the Charter School Movement; and
the National Charter School Directory.