Charter Schools: Beginning of Reform

Charter Schools: The Beginning of a Reform

The charter school movement is one of the most progressive large scale educational movements in the United States to date. These schools are truly on the forefront of diverse teaching and administrative styles. They do not prescribe to the ‘one side fits all’ doctrine of education and are able to free themselves of a large amount of the bureaucracy that drags down so many district schools. They are able to shape and mold themselves to the needs of the given community they are located in. First appearing in Minnesota in 1991 this movement has grown bigger and bigger every year. In fact, many charter schools are forced to use a lottery system to select students due to the high demand of enroll in their given communities.

Charter schools differ from district schools in many ways. For instance, a charter has a greater amount of accountability to the student, community, state and its sponsor for obtaining academic results. If, at any time, the state or sponsor feels that the school is not living up to its given charter they reserve the right to shut down the school. However, in return for this greater accountability these schools are given more freedom to operate the way they see fit. Acting as self-governing bodies they allow the principle to act like a C.E.O., answering to a board of directors and retaining the power to run the day to day operations like hiring and firing administrators or teachers as he/she sees fit.

These schools do receive public funding and are considered public schools therefore they are unable to charge tuition
. When looking at the funding of charter schools compared to that of district schools, on a national scale, charters get 61% of the funding their district counterparts get.[1] The national average of district schools per student funding is $10,771, where as the national average of charter schools per student funding is $6,585.[2] This trend of district schools having more money per student is the same in every state that contains charter laws with a varying degree.

Most charters work off a lottery system to accept students and exist in urban areas which results in a population that is diverse in race, class and gender. Working in tandem with the district schools, charters can help carry the load of an already over loaded inner city school. These schools are not meant to compete or put district schools ‘out of business’ but they are able to design their classrooms and methods to fit the learning needs of their diverse student body and adopt and change those methods every year as the needs of their students change; they are able cater to their population. As a result, many students who have been expelled or failed out of district schools attend charter schools. Studies have shown that this population of students can be successful in the charter school setting.[3] However, this is not say this is the only population that can be successful in the charter school setting. Because of a charters unique ability to cater more directly to the individual needs of each student, students of any learning style can be successful in this setting.


[1] http://www.edreform.com/charter_schools/funding/

[2] http://www.edreform.com/charter_schools/funding/chart.htm

[3] www.ncpa.org/pub/ba403