An article by Sarah Butrymowicz discusses allegations that charter schools in many states are inefficient and unreliable uses of taxpayer dollars, becoming bastions of mediocrity because they are freed from the regular state-mandated oversight that keeps traditional public schools in line.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, charter schools are publicly funded schools that, under a contract with the state, provide educational services under the accountability standards set forth in their charter while being exempt from traditional education regulations.
* As of November 2010, charter schools operated in 40 states and the District of Columbia.
* From 1999 and 2009, charter school enrollment nationwide went from 340,000 to 1.4 million.
* From 1999 to 2009, the percentage of public schools that were charter schools increased from 2 percent to 5 percent.
* During the 2008-2009 school year, there were 4,700 charter schools in the U.S.
* During the 2008-2009 school year, 30 percent of charter schools were in high-poverty areas, compared to 19 percent of traditional public schools.
* Roughly 2 percent of students grades 1 through 12 were enrolled in a charter school in 2007, according to a statistical analysis report published in April 2010, analyzing data from 1993 to 2007.
* In 2007 roughly one-third of students had parents who considered enrolling them in a school other than the one they were currently attending.
* Black and Asian students were most likely to have parents who had considered enrolling them in a school other than the one they were currently attending, with 45 percent of black students and 34 percent of Asian students having parents considering alternate schools.
* The higher the parents' level of education, the more likely the parent was to consider enrolling the student in a different school.
* A higher percentage of black students were enrolled in chosen public schools (charter and magnet schools) then were students of other races.
* More students from one-parent families attended chosen public schools (charter and magnet schools) than students from two-parent families.
* Students from the Western U.S. were most likely to attend chosen public schools (charter and magnet schools), while students from the Northeast were least likely.
* Roughly half of charter school students were considered poor or near-poor (coming from households with incomes less than 200 percent of the poverty threshold).
* A higher percentage of parents reported being satisfied with the performance of their student's chosen public school (62 percent reported "very satisfied") than parents of students who attended an assigned public school (52 percent reported "very satisfied").
14 comments