General Information About Charter Schools

Charter schools are one of the newest and fastest growing solutions to many of the problems and issues currently faced by traditional public education. A charter school is a public school, just like traditional public schools. It is funded by the local system. It charges no tuition. All children are eligible to attend, regardless of race, creed, color or background. Charter schools are nonsectarian.

Charter schools differ from traditional public schools in that they are autonomous from the local school system. The school operates under a charter, or contract, that has been negotiated between the organizers, who create and operate the school, and a sponsor, who oversees the provisions of the charter and holds the operators accountable for attaining educational results. Organizers may be teachers, parents, or others from the public or private sector. In Georgia, charter schools are sponsored by the local school boards. In the case of the Neighborhood Charter School, the sponsor is the Atlanta Board of Education. Once granted a charter, the school receives educational funding as though it is the same as a public school. But the school is exempt from state and local regulations concerning the organization of a public school. When the term of the charter expires, it may be renewed if the school has achieved specific educational results, has not violated any laws or grossly mismanaged its affairs, and continues to attract students, parents, and teachers.

Charter schools were formed out of public school reform efforts in 1991. In 1991 Minnesota passed the first charter school law, with California following suit in 1992. By 1995, 19 states had signed laws allowing for the creation of charter schools, and by 2003 that number increased to 40 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia. Currently, Georgia is home to sixty-two operating charter schools. The success rate of charter schools, as measured by openings and closings, has been high with 98% of original charter schools in the country still in operation.

As measured by scholastic achievement, charter schools have also seen many successes. Within a charter school setting, teachers are often empowered to develop their own curriculum and employ innovative instructional and assessment methods. Charter schools also promote equal opportunity. They attain their educational results while being tuition-free, non-sectarian, non-selective in student admissions, and non-discriminatory on the basis of race, religion, or disability. Recent national assessments of charter school performance indicated overwhelming parent and teacher satisfaction and striking gains in student achievement as demonstrated by standardized testing.

In Georgia, 1996 and 1997 surveys of charter school performance, as measured by Iowa Test of Basic Skills results, showed significant gains in mathematics and reading scores. For example, in 1997, the Sedalia Park Elementary School demonstrated gains of 8 percentage points in grade 3 reading scores and 7 percentage points in grade 3 math scores. At the Midway Elementary School, third graders showed gains of 7 percentage points in reading scores and 10 points in math. In fact, recent case studies of six charter elementary schools in Georgia indicate gains in reading and mathematics scores. These improvements confirm those shown in 1996 case studies involving the same schools.