The Slowdown in Bay Area Charter School Growth: Causes and Solutions
Author: Lake, Robin
Date: 2018-01-00
Type: Reports - Research
Subjects: Charter Schools,School Buildings,Politics of Education,Financial Support,Supply and Demand,School Administration,Educational Quality,Competition,Teacher Shortage,Elementary Secondary Education,Educational Development

Since the first charter school law passed in 1991, U.S. charter schools have enjoyed steady and relatively rapid growth, now serving more than three million students nationally. In more than 58 cities, charter schools represent more than 20 percent of all public school enrollment. In seven cities, charter schools enroll more than 40 percent of students, and in three cities, charter schools enroll the majority of students (New Orleans, Detroit, and Flint, Michigan). However, the rate of new charter school growth has slowed significantly in recent years. There are many plausible explanations for the recent deceleration of charter growth, including a temporary slowdown in start-up funding, an increasingly hostile political and regulatory environment, and a lack of access to quality teachers and leaders. It's also possible that now, more than 25 years into the charter school movement, other new dynamics have come into play among the schools themselves that must be attended to in order to refresh and reinvigorate the growth of high-quality charter schools. To begin to understand these national trends, the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) studied the charter school landscape in the San Francisco Bay Area, a region with historically rapid charter growth that has recently slowed. CRPE set out to learn what factors are inhibiting charter growth in the Bay Area and how they can be addressed. As part of the research, telephone interviews with representatives from organizations that operate 74 different Bay Area charter schools, were conducted. Demographic data were reviewed as well as facilities leasing and purchasing data. Three reasons for the slowdown include: (1) Too few school facilities that new schools can afford; (2) Increased competition for resources from well-established charter networks and schools; and (3) Political opposition from districts, some of which block access to facilities, bring lawsuits against growing schools, or make charters' compliance with state regulations more difficult. To respond to the demand and need for more high-quality schools in the Bay Area, CRPE recommends the following paths forward: (1) Pursue revisions to Proposition 39; (2) Offer &quot;consolidation grants&quot; to districts that will use their space to maximum efficiency; (3) Require that districts that fail to reduce costs responsibly leave the property ownership business; (4) Target more viable counties for growth; (5) Cultivate a more diverse supply of charter school operators; and (6) Negotiate district-charter-state &quot;grand bargains&quot; to give charters access to new buildings. In cities across the country, charters and districts can learn from successful models and work collaboratively to encourage the growth of high-quality schools that serve all students. [This report was made possible by a gift from the Silicon Schools Fund.]