The Colorado State Board has logged some 50 appeals of local board charter denials and the Denver district is litigating to block a State Board order to grant a charter. Charter school startup and development, according to the report findings, is extremely challenging. Facilities shortages and lack of facilities funding pose a major hurdle. Colorado schools seem to be doing a relatively good job of setting goals, assessing performance, and meeting their goals. Minnesota and Massachusetts schools, in contrast, may be struggling in these areas and some schools and some district sponsors may be asleep at the switch.
Governance is also a major problem area for many schools in Minnesota and Massachusetts.
Though the Colorado report said little about internal governance matters, anecdotal reports from Colorado indicate it is a trouble spot for many of their charter schools too. The drafters of all three reports may be too tentative in examining important policy matters. Colorado's unique system of providing a funding floor at only 80 percent of per-pupil revenues is apparently putting their schools under serious fiscal pressures and makes it difficult for the Colorado schools to pay competitive teacher salaries. All three states lack a mechanism to allow charter schools to share in facilities funding streams and none of the reports even hints at potential solutions. The new data from Minnesota, combined with previously existing data from Massachusetts and other states show that charter schools can and do serve diverse student populations, including special needs and disadvantaged students.