The charter school movement has experienced remarkable growth in the past five years, but that growth may stall if the movement can’t overcome a few challenges.
Charter schools face inadequate facilities, political opposition and over-reliance on philanthropy, among other challenges. Bellwether Education Partners, an education nonprofit, details those challenges in a new report called, “The State of the Charter School Movement.”
To meet growth expectations within 15 years, current charter operators will need to more than double their capacity, to 6.5 million students. New operators will also have to contribute by taking on 3.5 million students. This means current charter management organizations need to be able to scale their operations. In addition, new high-quality charters need to be fostered and eventually replicated.
“Although current operators project capacity to account for nearly half of projected growth, the sector will need new operators to supply 3.5 million additional seats,” the report said. “Achieving this number of new seats will require at least 70 new, high-quality operators by 2030.”
Scaling an existing charter school model is difficult enough as it is. Expanding to new cities can bring new political challenges. Sometimes, communities are openly hostile against people they view as outsiders coming in to lead a school. “The track record of [charter management organization] replication to new states is disappointing,” the report said.
Another challenge for charters is finding adequate facilities. “Districts have been reluctant to share space with charters, even when mandated by law,” the report said. As a result, many charter schools lack libraries, computer labs or science labs. Half of all charter schools in New York don’t have a library or a computer lab, or both.
Other state policies constrain growth as well. Seven states don’t allow charter schools at all, while seven others require school districts to authorize charter operators. Washington State’s charter law was recently ruled unconstitutional by the state supreme court, and charter schools are trying to find other funding sources to continue operating. Twenty-two states have caps on the number of charter schools allowed.
Bellwether projects that charter schools will educate 20 to 40 percent of all public school students in 20 years.
Charter schools are government-funded, but independently operated. They do not charge tuition and they are open to all students, but they often don’t have enough space to meet demand. They use a lottery system to determine admission when there aren’t enough seats. Compared to traditional public schools, charter schools have more independence in their operations and curriculum, which is why so many families find charter schools desirable.
