Understanding Charter Schools

What is a Charter School? 

Charter schools are public schools--independent, tuition-free, non-religious, highly-accountable, cost- efficient public schools--operated according to a specific, mission-driven charter. As of 2008, more than 4,100 chartered public schools are operating in 40 states and the District of Columbia.

Fifteen (15) chartered public schools have been authorized by New Hampshire’s State Board of Education and thirteen (11) are open and operating as of April 2008. Students are thriving.

Federal Definition

Schools of Choice

Chartered public schools are schools of choice. Students and teachers choose to attend a chartered public school–no one is assigned. Thus, the school only thrives if it meets the needs of parents, teachers, and students. When a district hosts a school of choice, it also provides a component of the No Child Left Behind Act. State-authorized schools are typically, but not always, a choice for students from any district in the state.

Independent and Public

Chartered public schools are independent public schools, operated free of any district school, and governed by their own boards of trustees. They are intended to be free of many state regulations but have accountability for performance and accomplishments according to the goals of the charter. Chartered public schools handle their own budgets, decide their own salary and benefit structures, and must have an audit of financial records each year. These schools must follow public accounting, public meeting, and public records guidelines for schools.

In New Hampshire, the charter public school functions like a small public school district in all areas except for special education. Special education decision-making stays with the host school district, as does the special education funding. By law, the chartered public school and school districts can have mutually advantageous contracts and/or have collaborative arrangements, e.g. food programs, sports, courses. Whatever the charter school purports to do, it is independent enough to focus on its specific goals.

Accountable
The charter school concept permits more freedom and independence in exchange for greater accountability. Charter schools must focus on results--outcomes. In business they say: What gets measured, gets done. Each charter has specific goals and objectives which must be measured to demonstrate learning gains and goal attainment. Unlike traditional public schools, if the chartered public school does not meet its goals or is poorly managed, the charter to operate can be revoked.

The New Hampshire charter school system requires quarterly reports, annual financial audits, and a year-end accountability report on progress meetings its goals. Most of the charter schools in New Hampshire have individual program goals and plans for each student so that achievement is closely tracked.

Financially Efficient

Nationally, charter schools operate for approx. $2,000 less per student. In New Hampshire, the expectation for cost efficiency is even higher. The original (1995) funding policy for district charter schools was for sending districts to provide 80% of their per pupil cost (flexible provisions allowed for more or less than 80%). Under state authorization (2003, RSA 194-B:3-a) charter school funding policy had two components which, in the first year of schools, equaled 60% of average district costs. Funding involved 1) state aid which was sent to districts and then from districts to charter schools and 2) state grants. Federal funds and special education funds were also to follow the child from the district under both authorization models (district and state).

As an independent school, the chartered public school is not bound by existing union contracts and can develop its own salary and benefit programs. Many chartered schools accommodate their decreased per pupil cost through new and different ways of doing business. Financial sustainability is a challenge for chartered public schools and the best of these schools are entrepreneurial, creative, and resourceful.

A Market System Model of School Reform

Chartered public schools are unique—they are market driven and subject to market forces. They typically have a less bureaucratic and hierarchical organizational structure, known to result in greater productivity. Like US colleges, chartered schools are designed to attract and then satisfy education customers and so they are results-oriented. Most chartered schools in New Hampshire are quite small—and this feature, particularly at the high school level, allows every student to be known as an individual, a quality that attracts and helps many teenagers.

Types of Charter Schools

New Hampshire law specifically outlines 1) district-authorized charter schools (serves students in the district), 2) state-authorized charter schools (open enrollment statewide), and 3) conversion schools (district teachers vote to convert to charter status with the district’s approval). These schools can be any size, any grade level including single grade levels, and have any type of program as long as there are high standards in core programs.

Facilities and New Hampshire Charter Schools

In New Hampshire, chartered public schools cannot bond or tax for school construction. They must locate and use space based on lease, purchase, or gift. A local incentive for charter schools is that creative use of existing facility space allows a district to create choices, extract a portion of students from an overcrowded school, and also save taxdollars by using available spaces for schooling.

Potential Benefits
Charter schools are the federal government’s top choice for meeting NCLB provisions Federal Requirements of Child Left Behind insist underperforming schools offer “choice” or costly supplemental services to students. Charter schools are considered one of the best ways to address drop-out recovery and drop-out prevention, a national high school initiative.

And the chartered public school is one way a community can grow without huge taxable debt for new buildings. A chartered public school can relieve crowding, lessen building enrollments in the home public school, and can decrease the need for a new school or the size of a new school.

Most important, the small charter school provides a choice for students, and usually these schools serve students who are not thriving in the larger system but who thrive in these unique systems, creating real future opportunity for young people—opportunity based on a successful public education.

Sound Basic Concepts

The basic concepts of chartered public schools are:

National Goal
Currently, our national education goals include expanding choice in public education and stimulating many more "quality" chartered public schools, decreasing the number of high school drop-outs, raising our levels of achievement, and assuring all students thrive in the public education system. Research suggests that more types of schools to assure “choice” and “fit” is the wave of the future.

Federal grants and programs to support charter school planning and start-up exceed $400 million. The average start-up award last year was $450,000 (for 36 months). New Hampshire was awarded a $7.2 million, 3-year grant to provide charter school planning and start-up here. An additional $500,000 was awarded because of so much interest in these unique schools from all corners of the state.