Are Charter Schools Better Than Public Schools?

In 1991, Minnesota passed the first law in the United States establishing charter schools.

Charter schools offer education ranging in grades K-12 without charge to students.

Charter schools are funded with tax dollars, but are generally subject to fewer rules and regulations than traditional public schools.

They usually receive less public funds per pupil than public schools. Researchers from the University of Arkansas found that, in 2010-2011, there was a 28.6% funding disparity between public and charter school pupils. The average charter school received $3,814 fewer dollars per pupil than traditional public schools.

When a student stays one year at a charter school, they offer a 3 percent higher return per dollar invested than if they had attended a traditional public school. If the student spends half of their school career (6.5 years), in the charter school, this advantage jumps to 19 percent higher return per dollar invested.

As of 2016, there are almost 7,000 charter schools serving almost 3 million students.

Since 2000, charter school enrollment has increased by 600 percent.

In a recent survey by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, more than 70% of parents supported opening a charter school in their neighborhood.

According to a 2015 Stanford study, the typical student in an urban charter school receives the equivalent of 40 additional days of learning growth in math and 28 days of additional growth in reading compared to their matched peers in public school.

A 2017 study from Temple University that examined public and charter schools in New York City found that charter schools had a positive impact on nearby or co-located public schools.

In a recent survey by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, more than 70% of parents supported opening a charter school in their neighborhood.

In response to this growth in popularity, the NAACP has allied with the NEA teachers union to oppose charter schools.

In 2002, a Philadelphia charter school was given only 3.8 of the 11 million it was promised to receive. Public schools were threatened by the charter and refused to share funding.

In 2017, a Massachusetts teachers union voted to shut down a successful charter school that had been converted from a failing public school.

Teachers unions and other public school activists argue that charter schools take money away from traditional public schools.

But charter schools don’t syphon money away from public schools. In New York, a study from Temple University found that when charter schools were co-located with public schools, spending per student increased 9 percent.

Charter schools also don’t affect the achievement of public school students. A study from the Manhattan Institute of New York City schools found that for every 1 percent of a public school’s students that leave for a charter school, the reading ability of those who stay increased about 0.02 standard deviations.

Contrary to the stance of the NEA and NAACP, when public and charter schools coexist, both systems win.

The NAACP and NEA oppose charter schools not because they harm public school students, but because charter schools often don’t employ unionized teachers.

In a recent survey by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, more than 70% of parents supported opening a charter school in their neighborhood.

In response to this growth in popularity, the NAACP has allied with the NEA teachers union to oppose charter schools.

Contrary to the stance of the NEA and NAACP, when public and charter schools coexist, both systems win.