With a majority of New Orleans public school students attending public charter schools — the largest percentage in the nation — it is fitting that this year’s national Charter Schools Conference be held in the Crescent City. 

Of course, it was the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina that caused local and state officials to turn to chartering as a way to way to get new, high-quality schools open. Despite this unique history, New Orleans charter schools possess many of the same strengths and face many of the same challenges as other charter schools across the nation.

As charter school leaders, teachers, school board members, authorizers, state leaders, funders, advocates, and researchers gather in the Big Easy, it is timely to examine the state of the charter school movement and identify some goals we commonly hold for our future.

Increasing Parental Demand
More and more families are seeking public education alternatives to traditional public schools. Enrollment in charter schools has increased by nearly 500,000 students in the past four years alone, totaling almost 1.3 million students — or three percent of the nation’s total public school enrollment. In fact, of the 4,300 charter schools in 40 states and Washington, D.C., 1,600 opened within the last four years.

In eight major communities across the nation, charter schools enroll 20 percent or more of all public school students. Another 21 communities enroll at least 13 percent of their students in charters. At nine percent, Arizona tops the list of states with the largest proportion of public school students enrolled in charters. 

Distressingly, however, we estimate that about 367,000 students remain on charter school waiting lists nationwide, with the greatest numbers in Colorado (41,000), Pennsylvania (27,000), and Massachusetts (19,000). This pent-up demand would fill about 1,100 new charter schools across the country.

Serving More Disadvantaged Students
Charter schools are meeting their mission of providing public school choice to those families that need it most. Nationwide, a larger proportion of charter school students are minority (60 percent) and low-income (52 percent) than the proportion of students in traditional public schools (46 and 40 percent respectively).

Improving Quality
Each year the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools analyzes studies tracking student achievement in charter schools, and the trend in recent studies is increasingly positive. Of the 40 studies examining changes in student achievement over time, 31 show charter gains exceed traditional public schools overall or for certain categories, such as elementary schools, high schools, and schools serving at-risk students.

And there are more than just a few high-performing schools. Various research studies in 2006 and 2007 show that entire charter sectors are outpacing traditional schools in New York, Chicago, Massachusetts, and other jurisdictions.

Challenges
Unfortunately, charter schools continue to face significant challenges to providing quality education for the nation’s students. 

Resource Constraints
Charters receive 22 percent less per-student dollars in state/local funding than traditional public schools, with the gap larger in big cities. Additionally, while progress has been made in recent years in securing more equitable operating dollars in states like New Jersey and Utah, and facilities dollars in Colorado, Florida, Georgia, and New Mexico, only 15 states provide facilities funding for charter schools. That means most charter schools have to spend money intended for classroom instruction on bricks and mortar.

Federal Funding
For the first time in five years, federal support for charter schools decreased significantly in 2008 — the Charter Schools Program reduced $10 million to $190 million, State Facilities Incentive Grants reduced $2 million to $13 million, and Credit Enhancement for Charter Facilities funding reduced by $28.7 million to $8.3 million.

Caps
Twenty-six states and the District of Columbia have adopted caps limiting new schools. While progress has been made in recent years to reverse this legislation, including in Connecticut, Iowa, New York, and Utah, 10 states are “capped-out” and no longer able to open new charter schools. Unlike Arizona, where the Arizona State Board for Charter Schools is the primary charter authorizer, many states leave charter approval and oversight in the hands of local school boards. This may seriously limit the ability of promising charter ideas to gain a foothold.

Low Understanding
Only 38 percent of respondents to a recent poll conducted by the Alliance correctly understood that charter schools are public schools.

Low-Performing Schools
Too many charters nationwide are not living up to their mission. Mismanagement and poor academic results reflect badly on the movement as a whole and create additional challenges for the majority of schools that are performing well. Our movement needs to do a better job of policing itself, acting more decisively to close low-performing charters, and open the door to the creation of more high-performing schools.

Despite the challenges, the future of the charter school movement continues to be strong. From the Alliance’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., for example, we see considerable progress ahead on federal policy matters. The movement’s recommendations on improving the No Child Left Behind Act have won broad support from both Democrats and Republicans. Throughout the primaries, the parties’ presidential candidates have also publicly declared their support for public charters, indicating that the next four years will see an increased federal interest in their success. And although charters are meeting stiff partisan headwinds in some states, there is an increasing sense in state capitals that chartering is here to stay — and that it is an essential tool in wider education reform.

Looking Ahead
As we move into the 17th year since the nation’s first charter school opened, we must share and replicate our best practices, bolster the high quality of our schools, and actively promote and publicize our successes to policy makers, the public, and the media. At the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, our goal is to continue to help charter school organizations and their schools succeed. Public charter schools have helped to change the lives of millions of students in a few short years, and we must make this great opportunity available to many more in the years to come.

Nelson Smith is president, National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.