A growing number of charter schools are serving rural communities. More than 320,000 students are enrolled in rural charter schools across the United States. Due to a smaller population and geographic isolation, charter schools in rural areas face many challenges. The autonomy and flexibility of the charter school model can help mitigate some of…

The Charter Schools Program (CSP) is the nation's only source of dedicated federal funding to support the creation, expansion, and replication of public charter schools. Since FY2019, the CSP has been flat funded at $440 million. The CSP amounts to less than 1% of federal spending on K-12 education, however, it has a substantial impact on the…

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Congress created the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) fund to help support K-12 public schools in emergency situations. These funds were essential in helping schools to better adapt to students' needs. This report explains how public charter schools allocated the…

In 2023, charter school advocates continued to make legislative gains in statehouses across the country. These gains were made in red, blue, and purple states, oftentimes in ways that showed bipartisan support for charter schools remains firmly in place. In looking at the results of this year's legislative sessions across the country, four…

Charter school Alternative Education Campuses (AECs) leverage the nimbleness of the charter school model to create unique learning opportunities nationwide for students who experience challenges that make it difficult to excel academically. Some of the challenges include homelessness, pregnancy, parenting while in school, or interaction with the…

"Listen to Your Teacher: An Analysis of Teacher Sentiment on the State of Public Education" is a new report based on results of a national survey of more than 1,200 public school teachers--both district and charter--conducted by The Harris Poll and commissioned by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. The survey examined…

Parents roared in 2022 and the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools was proud to help their voices be heard while lifting the charter school movement to new heights. 2022 was a year of progress. The movement flexed its muscles, raised its voice, defeated threats, and seized opportunities to give more students access to a high-quality…

This report is the thirteenth annual state charter school laws rankings report produced by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. In each report, they analyze, score, and rank each state's charter school law against their model charter school law. The purpose is to determine which states have created the statutory and regulatory…

In a new report, "Never Going Back: An Analysis of Parent Sentiment on Education," the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools examines results from a survey of more than 5,000 parents conducted by The Harris Poll in May 2022. Survey results provide deep insights into how parents feel about education, whether and why they've made…

"Changing Course: Public School Enrollment Shifts During the Pandemic" is an analysis of student enrollment trends in public schools during the pandemic (2019-20 to 2021-22 school years). The numbers showed more than 240,000 students enrolled in charter schools, a 7% increase--while district public schools lost approximately 1.5 million…

Finding funds to build and renovate facilities is a major hurdle for public charter schools because most state laws do not provide charter schools with the full amount of state and local funding that other public schools receive. Although an increasing number of states are passing laws to address charter school facility funding gaps, inequities…

School districts are an integral part of the U.S. education system. Every state in the nation guarantees citizens free public education. To ensure all students are served, the states divide their land into school districts intended to provide all students with reasonable access to a school near where they live. These districts exist as units of…

2022 turned out to be a dynamic year for charter schools, as many state lawmakers recognized the fact parents want more schooling options that fit their children's unique needs. In total, close to 50% of states with charter school laws gained at least one legislative win. Read for more details on how the charter school movement strengthened in the…

The Charter Schools Program (CSP) is the nation's only source of dedicated federal funding to support the creation, expansion, and replication of public charter schools. At its fiscal year 2022 funding level of $440 million, the CSP amounts to less than 1% of federal spending on K-12 education but has a significant impact on the communities that…

Charter schools and district schools are both public schools serving public school students and operating within the same public education ecosystem. For nearly as long as charter schools have been in existence, there has been concern about how these innovative public schools that generally sit outside the jurisdiction of the school district might…