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Charter schools in California are public schools operated independently of public school systems, either by nonprofit or for-profit organizations. Although they are largely publicly funded, charter schools are exempt from many of the requirements imposed by state and local boards of education regarding hiring and curriculum. As public schools, charter schools cannot charge tuition or impose special entrance requirements; students are usually admitted through a lottery process if demand exceeds the number of spaces available in a school. Charter schools generally receive a percentage of the per-pupil funds from the state and local school districts for operational costs based on enrollment. In most states, charter schools do not receive funds for facilities or start-up costs; therefore, they must rely to some extent on private donations. The federal government also provides revenues through special grants. As of March 2017, 44 states and the District of Columbia had approved legislation authorizing the creation of public charter schools. Six states had not.
Across the nation, charter schools have grown in number since the passage of the first public charter school law. As of March 2017, 44 states plus the District of Columbia had enacted charter school laws, and in 2013 it was estimated that 4.6 percent of all public school students attended charter schools. Performance results of charter schools nationally have been mixed, with some performing demonstrably better and others closing because they could not meet required standards.[2][4][5]
California was the second state to enact a charter school law, passing the measure in 1992. Initially, the law capped the total number of charter schools in the state at 100, with a maximum of 10 being allowed to operate in any one district. In 1998, the state legislature raised the cap to 250 and provided for its increase by 100 each subsequent year. In 1999, the legislature increased funding available to charter schools. For the 1999-2000 school year, the rate of charter school creation doubled.[6][7]
In 2003, the state adopted legislation that required further oversight of charter schools, such as mandating authorizers to visit their charter schools annually, and established performance standards the schools must meet to qualify for renewal.[6]
California’s charter school system continued to expand, with the 2013-2014 school year seeing a 17 percent increase in student enrollment.[8]
According to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, a charter school advocacy group, there were an estimated 1,234 total charter schools in California in the 2015-2016 school year. These schools enrolled approximately 581,100 students. Overall, charter school students accounted for 9.18 percent of total public school enrollment in California in 2015.[9]
The table below presents information about the race/ethnicity of charter school students in California in the 2013-2014 school year, as reported by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. To facilitate comparison, the same figures are also provided for all public school students.[10][11]
Charter school authorizers are, according to the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA), the organizations "designated to approve, monitor, renew, and, if necessary, close charter schools." NASCA has identified six primary types of charter school authorizers:[12]
The table below lists charter school authorizers in California as of June 2016. Click [show] to expand the table's contents.
All charter schools in California are open for any student in the state to attend, including schools authorized by local school districts and county boards of education. If demand exceeds available space, schools must utilize a lottery system to determine admission.
California’s charter school law contains several specifications on enrollment preferences. Conversion schools, which are traditional public schools that convert to charter school status, must give preference to students residing in the school’s district. If a charter school is located near an elementary school where at least 50 percent of students in attendance qualify for free or reduced price lunch, the charter school may give preference to those students or other students within the attendance area of the elementary school. The law allows authorizers to further set preferences within the charter contract, such that many charter schools give preference for the children of founders, staff and board members. Unlike many other states, California does not require preference to be given to currently enrolled students or their siblings.
Charter school financing differs from state to state, and even between districts within states. According to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, "California is in the midst of changing how it funds all public schools, including public charter schools." Up until 2013, charter schools were provided operational funding on a per-pupil basis to be equal to 100 percent of state and district funding, given in the form of a grant. The grant was either provided directly by the state or funneled through the local education agency (either local school boards or county boards of education) that authorized the school.
Charter schools are allowed to privately fundraise and receive grants and loans from the state and federal government for start-up costs, transportation, facilities, and special education.
California law states that each authorizer must establish a person of contact for each charter school, visit each school annually, and monitor the performance and fiscal state of each school. On their end, charter schools must provide annual reports to their authorizers and the county superintendent of schools detailing fiscal operations, performance and attendance. Schools must undergo an annual audit and present reports on the findings to their authorizers and to the state, which are then issued to the public. Charter schools, like traditional public schools, must also participate in the state’s report card program, which is also public.
If a school is not meeting performance standards, the school must be notified by the authorizer and given a chance to improve. The authorizer may intervene and assistance may be provided by the authorizer or the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence.[13]
A charter may be revoked if the school violates the charter, continues to fail to meet performance standards, or engages in fiscal mismanagement. Renewal, nonrenewal and revocation decisions must be made in a public meeting.[13]
In January 2016, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools released a report ranking all of the nation's charter school laws. California's law ranked 15 out of 43. The organization ranked each state's law by considering what it called "20 essential components of a strong charter school law." The table below compares California's score with that of neighboring states. To access the full report, including methodology, click here.[14]
Proponents of charter schools such as the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools argue that, due to their freedom from some state oversight and regulation, they can adopt more innovative educational approaches. This allows them to cater to their particular higher-risk school age populations, which are generally composed of more minority and poor students. In addition, advocates argue that charter schools empower parents and improve traditional public schools through competition.
Meanwhile, critics such as Diane Ravitch argue that charter schools have not been proven to produce significantly higher levels of academic achievement as promised. It is difficult to find data comparable to traditional public schools. Critics also contend that charter schools divert funds from traditional public schools, which continue to enroll significant majorities of public school students, thereby compounding problems at failing schools and generating unequal outcomes for students.[15]
In 2014, the University of Arkansas Department of Education Reform released a report identifying disparities between charter school funding and traditional public school funding. Examining 31 states, the researchers considered all sources of charter school funding, including public funds, grants, and philanthropic donations. Researchers found that charter schools received on average 28.4 percent less than traditional public schools. Tennessee's funding disparity was lowest at 0.1 percent, while Louisiana's was highest at 58.4 percent. The disparity in California was -29.3 percent, earning the state an F grade. Charter schools in the state received on average $3,453 less per pupil than traditional public schools.[16]
Below is a chart that compares California's grade and funding disparity with those of surrounding states. To access the full report, click here.
Most of the charter schools in California are freestanding, meaning they do not contract with a charter school management organization for education services. In the 2010-2011 school year, 660 charter schools were freestanding, 237 operated under charter management organizations, and 21 operated under education management organizations.
Education management organizations (EMOs) are for-profit companies that form a network of charter schools with a shared vision and provide education services to those schools. Only a small percentage of schools in California were managed by EMOs in 2010-2011. The largest education management organization in California is K12, which operated 13 virtual schools in the state in 2010-2011.[17]
Charter management organizations (CMOs) are nonprofit associations that form a network of charter schools with a shared vision and provide education services to those schools. The largest CMOs in California are Aspire Public Schools, managing 35 schools, and Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools, managing 26 schools. In the 2011-2012 school year, California had the largest number of students in an CMO-managed school of any state at 122,082 students. This was about 27 percent of the total number of students in CMOs nationwide.[18]
Charter school proponents argue that charter schools have the freedom to adopt more innovative practices, which in turn lead to improved academic performance. To get a sense of the level of innovation occurring in charter schools, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools surveyed charter schools across the country on the various innovative education practices they employed. In California, an average of 23 percent of charter schools reported using innovative practices in the 2011-2012 school year. The table below displays the prevalence of a variety of innovative practices in California as a percentage of all charter schools in the state. The figures are compared with those in surrounding states.[19]
Ballotpedia has tracked the following statewide ballot measures relating to school choice.
The following is a list of recent charter school bills that have been introduced in or passed by the California state legislature. To learn more about each of these bills, click the bill title. This information is provided by BillTrack50 and LegiScan.
Note: Due to the nature of the sorting process used to generate this list, some results may not be relevant to the topic. If no bills are displayed below, no legislation pertaining to this topic has been introduced in the legislature recently.
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Californiacharterschool. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
