Archived: Expanding Charter School Movement - Newly Created and Pre-Existing Charter Schools

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

The State of Charter Schools 2000 - Fourth-Year Report, January 2000

A. States and Charter Schools

Newly Created and Pre-Existing Charter Schools

Charter school legislation allows charter schools to be created in several different ways. Groups of parents, teachers, and community members can start newly created schools. In addition, public and private schools may be able to convert to charter school status. Because the types of authorized charter schools vary state by state, characteristics of charter schools often differ from one state to another. Some states have many charter schools that were pre-existing public schools, while in other states there are few.

As of the 1998-99 school year, 72 percent of all charter schools were newly created schools. An additional 18 percent had been pre-existing public schools before becoming charter schools, while 10 percent had been pre-existing private schools.
Newly created schools continued to make up the majority of charter schools created in each year. Pre-existing public schools, which constituted 44 percent of all charter schools opened in the 1994-95 school year or earlier, constituted only 15 percent of charter schools opened in the 1998-99 school year. This decline in the percentage of charter schools that converted from pre-existing public schools were located in California and converted in the first years that California had a charter school law.
Legislation in the 27 states with operating charter schools in 1998-99 permits the conversion of existing public schools to charter schools. In 26 of these states, state charter legislation allows the creation of new charter schools as well. Twelve states permit pre-existing private schools to become charter schools, although some states require that the private schools disband and reconstitute themselves before applying for a charter or limit the geographic areas in which private schools may convert to become charter schools.

Estimated Percentage of Charter Schools, by Creation Status
Newly created = 72%; Pre-existing public = 18%; Pre-existing private = 10%

NOTE: These data are based on responses from all 975 open charter schools that responded to the survey. Although Nevada had one open charter school as of the 1998-99 school year, that school did not respond to the survey.

Estimated Number and Percentage of Newly Created and Pre-existing Charter Schools, by Year of School Opening

Estimated Number and Percentages of Charter Schools, by Creation Status and State¹

NOTE: These data are based on responses from all 975 open charter schools that responded to the survey.

¹ NA indicates that the state's legislation did not allow for that type of charter school when the schools that responded to our survey received their charters. Several states have since changed their laws to allow more types of charter schools.
² Colorado does not allow private schools to become charter schools, but one charter school was a pre-existing program for adjudicated youth.
³ Although Florida's law does not allow private schools to apply directly to become charter schools, private schools may disband, reincorporate as new organizations with new boards, and apply for charters if they agree to enroll students through a public lottery.
⁴ The original charter laws in Georgia, New Mexico, and Arkansas did not permit newly created charter schools, but legislative changes in 1998-99 have resulted in laws that now allow newly created charter schools.
⁵ Illinois charter legislation stipulates that a private school must cease operation as a private school before applying for charter status.
⁶ Kansas law does not allow private schools to become charter schools. We are still clarifying the status of one school that reported it was previously a private school.
⁷ New Mexico legislation was amended in 1999 to allow newly created schools, but this change was too early for newly created schools to be surveyed for this report.

⁸ Wisconsin's law allows for the conversion of privateschools only in Milwaukee.

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A. States and Charters Schools (Part 2)

B. Basic Characteristics of Charter Schools