The Federal Charter School Program was created in 1994, as an amendment to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The purpose of the program is to provide federal funding to state or local education agencies that manage the development and execution of charter schools within the USA.
Historical context
A charter is simply the "grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified." In other words, a charter is the approval of one party to another party's application to exercise rights. A charter school then, is simply a school that applies to exercise certain actions and are granted that right by an authority (usually a local or state education agency.) Charter school supporters argue that the increased autonomy of charter schools allows for more effective management, and a louder voice for stakeholders that can shape how charter schools are run.
The term "charter schools" was first brought into the public eye when "delegates to the 1988 national convention of the American Federation of Teachers [had] 'proposed that local school boards and unions jointly develop a procedure that would enable teams of teachers and others to submit and implement proposals to set up their own autonomous public schools within their school buildings...'" Ray Budde had introduced the idea earlier that year in his publication "Education by Charter: Restructuring School Districts," in which he suggested that faculty or administrators could develop charters for specific programs within schools; the idea of developing actual charter schools stemmed from his original proposal. However, Albert Shanker transformed the idea into creating entire charter-based schools while he was president of the American Federation of Teachers, from 1974 to 1997.
In 1991, Minnesota opened the first charter school. California followed suit in 1992. As of January 2007, over 3,600 charter schools, with more than 1 million students, were operating. As of the 2013–2014 school year, 42 states and the District of Columbia have successfully passed charter school legislation; the eight remaining states that have not yet passed charter school legislation are Montana, Kentucky, Alabama, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Virginia. Over half a million students are enrolled in charter schools in California, giving the state the highest rate of charter school enrollment in the nation; however, given the size of the California population, this amount corresponds to only eight percent of all students enrolled in California public schools. In comparison, the District of Columbia has 42 percent of its public school students enrolled in charter schools, with Arizona following behind at 18 percent; these are the two highest rates of charter school enrollment among public school students in the nation.
Generally, states that are poorer and have more powerful teachers' unions lobbying groups are less likely to pass charter school legislation. Higher income populations are more likely to organize and successfully lobby for charter school legislation.
Charter schools today
Today's charter schools are centered within urban areas, and generally accept a higher proportion of low-achieving, low-income students. In general, they are small – with about 60% enrolling fewer than 200 students (in comparison, only about 16% of traditional public school enroll fewer than 200 students), and have a slightly lower proportion of students with disabilities and who are limited in English proficiency.
While most charter schools continue to be run by independent organizations, there is an increasing number of "name-brand" charter schools, run by organizations such as KIPP (The Knowledge is Power Program), EdVisions or Big Picture. The creation of these management organizations develops from the philosophy that there needs to be a way to quickly replicate the success of charter schools if they are truly going to transform education. These organizations seek to franchise charter schools – or build individually managed units that follow the basic philosophy and regulations of a central organization – in order to grow their charter school model.