A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Charter Schools on the Rise

OERI recently released The State of Charter Schools: 1999, the third annual report from the National Study of Charter Schools. The report provides results from the Spring 1998 survey of all charter schools in operation in the 1997-98 school year.

The number of charter schools has grown from 270 to 1,050 over 3 years. As of July 1999, 36 states and the District of Columbia have adopted legislation enabling charter schools. Puerto Rico, which is not covered in the Study, also authorizes charter schools under its more general community school law. Despite this growth, characteristics of schools have stayed much the same. Like earlier reports, this report indicates that:

• Most charter schools are small (the median number of students is 132).
• rade level distribution varies considerably, with charter schools more often choosing a K­8 or a K­12 distribution than other public schools.
• About 70 percent of all charter schools are newly created; nearly 20 percent were pre-existing public schools, and slightly more than 10 percent were pre-existing private schools.
• Nearly half of all charter school students are students of color. The population of all charter schools is 52 percent white, compared to 60 percent in all public schools in the 24 states surveyed for this report.
• While most charter school populations mirror their state's racial composition, in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, and Texas, charter schools are serving significantly more minority or economically disadvantaged students.
• Most charter schools had about the same percentage of white students as their district average. Seventy-two percent of schools were within 20 percent of the average percentage of white students in the surrounding district.
• Charter schools report that approximately 8 percent of their students were students with disabilities. This compares to approximately 11 percent in the 24 states where charter schools were located. Charter schools in some states, such as Florida, enroll substantially more students with disabilities than other public schools in the state.
• Charter schools serve about the same proportion of students with limited proficiency in English as do other public schools in their states, although there is much variation between states.
• Charter schools serve about the same proportion of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch as other public schools in their states.
• Charter schools are founded for diverse reasons. Newly created schools often seek to realize an educational vision; many others seek to serve an at-risk student population.

Resource limitations continue to be a problem. In every year of the survey, schools mentioned lack of start-up funds most frequently. In the 1998 survey, more than 55 percent reported that start-up funding was a barrier.

The report is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.ed.gov/pubs/studies.html#Charter and from ED Pubs (see page 8 for ordering information). For further information about The State of Charter Schools: 1999, call Pat Lines at 202-219-2039.

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