Charter Schools Continue Dramatic Growth Despite Controversies
Posted: 12/10/2013 2:01 pm EST | Updated: 12/10/2013 2:19 pm EST
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| Protesters demonstrated outside Freire Charter School during a visit by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), Monday, Sept. 23, 2013, in Philadelphia. In Cantor's remarks he demanded that Attorney General Eric Holder drop a lawsuit over school vouchers or face the wrath of Congress. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) | ASSOCIATED PRESS |
NEW YORK -- Charter schools remain the subject of intense debate, particularly in New York City, where incoming Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) won on a platform that was explicitly less friendly toward such schools than the policies of the outgoing mayor have been. But even as the political debate rages on, charter schools continue to grow dramatically throughout the country.
Overall, 1 in 20 students -- 2.3 million in total -- now attend charter schools, which represents an increase of 225,000 students over the 2012-13 school year. And that growth is particularly pronounced in urban areas, according to a new report released Tuesday by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools that looked at market share in cities with the highest number of charter schools.
According to the report, New Orleans, whose school system was rebuilt in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, has 79 percent of its students in charter schools, which are publicly funded but can be privately and independently run. For the first time, Detroit had more than half of its students in such schools, with 51 percent. Washington, D.C., is working its way there, with 43 percent of its students now in charter schools. The top six school districts with the highest rates of enrollment -- which also include Flint,Mich., Kansas City, Mo., and Gary, Ind. -- each have 30 percent or more of students in a charter school.
The nation's largest cities also have high numbers of charter school students,
