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Charter schools in Virginia

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Charter schools in Virginia are public schools operated independently of public school systems, either by nonprofit or for-profit organizations. Although they are largely publicly funded, charter schools are exempt from many of the requirements imposed by state and local boards of education regarding hiring and curriculum. As public schools, charter schools cannot charge tuition or impose special entrance requirements; students are usually admitted through a lottery process if demand exceeds the number of spaces available in a school. Charter schools generally receive a percentage of the per-pupil funds from the state and local school districts for operational costs based on enrollment. In most states, charter schools do not receive funds for facilities or start-up costs; therefore, they must rely to some extent on private donations. The federal government also provides revenues through special grants. As of March 2017, 44 states and the District of Columbia had approved legislation authorizing the creation of public charter schools. Six states had not.

HIGHLIGHTS
  • According to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, a charter school advocacy group, there were an estimated nine total charter schools in Virginia in the 2015-2016 school year. These schools enrolled approximately 1,200 students.
  • Overall, charter school students accounted for 0.09 percent of total public school enrollment in Virginia in 2015.
  • The Virginia State Legislature approved the state's charter school law in 1998.

    • Background

    History

    The Virginia State Legislature approved Virginia's charter school law in 1998.

    The concept of creating public charter schools as alternatives to traditional public schools was first brought to public attention in the late 1980s by a small group of policymakers and educators. The notion gained traction in the early 1990s, and in 1991 Minnesota became the first state to pass a charter school law.[1]

    The National Conference of State Legislatures defines charter schools as follows:[2]

    “

    Charter schools are publicly funded, privately managed and semi-autonomous schools of choice. They do not charge tuition. They must hold to the same academic accountability measures as traditional schools. They receive public funding similarly to traditional schools. However, they have more freedom over their budgets, staffing, curricula and other operations. In exchange for this freedom, they must deliver academic results and there must be enough community demand for them to remain open.[3]

    		”
    —National Conference of State Legislatures

    Across the nation, charter schools have grown in number since the passage of the first public charter school law. As of March 2017, 44 states plus the District of Columbia had enacted charter school laws, and in 2013 it was estimated that 4.6 percent of all public school students attended charter schools. Performance results of charter schools nationally have been mixed, with some performing demonstrably better and others closing because they could not meet required standards.[2][4][5]

    Before the 1998 legislation was passed, the Virginia state legislature attempted to pass several laws to establish charters in their state. Once passed, the law was amended several times. The later amendments helped to define more clearly issues that arose while implementing or discussing charter schools. For instance, the original law only allowed up to two charters per school division. One of the first amendments to the law helped to determine what would happen to charters that were jointly managed by multiple divisions: the charter school would be a member of one of the divisions that manage it, as chosen by the leaders of those divisions. Another amendment requires that school divisions formally announce whether or not they will accept charter applications. A full history of charter legislation in Virginia, including other amendments, can be found here.[6]

    Participation

    According to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, a charter school advocacy group, there were an estimated nine total charter schools in Virginia in the 2015-2016 school year. These schools enrolled approximately 1,200 students. Overall, charter school students accounted for 0.09 percent of total public school enrollment in Virginia in 2015.[7]

    Charter schools, 2015-2016
    State Total number of charter schools Estimated enrollment Percentage of total public school enrollment
    Virginia 9 1,200 0.09%
    Maryland 50 19,000 2.17%
    North Carolina 161 82,000 5.30%
    West Virginia 0 0 0.00%
    United States total 6,824 2,930,600 5.85%
    Note: The percentages in the column labeled "Percentage of total public school enrollment" were calculated by taking the estimated number of charter school students in a given state and dividing by the total estimated number of public school students in that state in 2015. Total public school enrollment estimates came from the National Center for Education Statistics.
    Source: National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, "A Closer Look at the Charter School Movement," February 3, 2016

    Demographics

    See also: Charter school demographics and Demographic information for all students in the United States

    The table below presents information about the race/ethnicity of charter school students in Virginia in the 2013-2014 school year, as reported by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. To facilitate comparison, the same figures are also provided for all public school students.[8][9]

    Enrollments by ethnicity, 2013-2014 (as percentages)
    Data sample White Black Hispanic Asian Other
    Charter schools in Virginia 48.0% 39.0% 6.0% 2.0% 5.0%
    Public schools in Virginia 52.2% 23.3% 13.1% 6.3% 5.1%
    Charter schools in the U.S. 34.9% 27.1% 30.0% 4.1% 3.8%
    Public schools in the U.S. 50.3% 15.6% 24.8% 4.8% 4.4%
    Sources: National Center for Education Statistics, "Table 203.70. Percentage distribution of enrollment in public elementary and secondary schools, by race/ethnicity and state or jurisdiction: Fall 2003 and fall 2013," accessed June 7, 2016
    National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, "The Health of the Charter Public School Movement: A State-by-State Analysis," March 2016

    State law

    Authorizers

    Charter school authorizers are, according to the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA), the organizations "designated to approve, monitor, renew, and, if necessary, close charter schools." NASCA has identified six primary types of charter school authorizers:[10]

    1. Higher education institutions (HEI)
    2. Independent charter boards (ICB)
    3. Local education agencies (LEA)
    4. Non-education government entities (NEG)
    5. Not-for-profit organizations (NFP)
    6. State education agencies

    The table below lists charter school authorizers in Virginia as of June 2016. Click [show] to expand the table's contents.

    Enrollment regulations

    The Virginia charter law does not provide clear rules for who may or may not enroll in charter schools. Generally speaking, state charter schools cannot deny any applicants. However, Virginia law is not clear in this regard.[11]

    Funding

    In Virginia, charter schools receive their funding from the state.

    Charter school financing differs from state to state, and even between districts within states. Virginia's charter schools are completely funded by per-pupil funding given directly by the state. Charter schools receive 100 percent of traditional schools' per-pupil funding, with any fees or deductions being open to negotiation. However, there are no additional funds available for facilities spending. Charter schools must contract with the local school division to find available buildings or funds that can be spent on new buildings. The law doesn't specify who must procure transportation for students, but it does require the charter to have some plan to meet its students' transportation needs. Virginia also has a program called the Public Charter School Fund that is made to support well-performing charter schools. The state treasury is responsible this fund.[12]

    Accountability

    See also: Accountability measures for charter schools

    The Virginia charter law does not have many requirements for charter accountability. It does require authorizers to submit annual reports on their charter schools to the state, however. These reports are then reviewed by the state board to determine whether or not the charter is meeting expectations.[11]

    A school's charter may be revoked if any of the school

    “
    1. Violates the conditions, standards or procedures established in the charter school application;
    2. Fails to meet or make reasonable progress toward achievement of the content standards or student performance standards identified in the charter application;
    3. Fails to meet generally accepted standards of fiscal management; or
    4. Violates any provision of law from which the charter school was not specifically exempted[12][3]
    		 ”

    Charter school law rankings

    In January 2016, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools released a report ranking all of the nation's charter school laws. Virginia's law ranked 39 out of 43. The organization ranked each state's law by considering what it called "20 essential components of a strong charter school law." The table below compares Virginia's score with that of neighboring states. To access the full report, including methodology, click here.[13]

    Charter school law rankings, January 2016
    State 2016 ranking 2015 ranking Ranking difference 2016 score 2015 score Score difference
    Virginia 39 40 1 80 76 4
    Maryland 43 43 0 49 41 8
    North Carolina 14 16 2 152 148 4
    West Virginia N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
    Source: National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, "Measuring Up To The Model: A Ranking of State Charter School Laws," January 2016

    Issues

    Debate

    Proponents of charter schools such as the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools argue that, due to their freedom from some state oversight and regulation, they can adopt more innovative educational approaches. This allows them to cater to their particular higher-risk school age populations, which are generally composed of more minority and poor students. In addition, advocates argue that charter schools empower parents and improve traditional public schools through competition.

    Meanwhile, critics such as Diane Ravitch argue that charter schools have not been proven to produce significantly higher levels of academic achievement as promised. It is difficult to find data comparable to traditional public schools. Critics also contend that charter schools divert funds from traditional public schools, which continue to enroll significant majorities of public school students, thereby compounding problems at failing schools and generating unequal outcomes for students.[14]

    Funding inequity

    In 2014, the University of Arkansas Department of Education Reform released a report identifying disparities between charter school funding and traditional public school funding. Examining 31 states, the researchers considered all sources of charter school funding, including public funds, grants, and philanthropic donations. Researchers found that charter schools received on average 28.4 percent less than traditional public schools. Tennessee's funding disparity was lowest at 0.1 percent, while Louisiana's was highest at 58.4 percent. Virginia was not studied.[15]

    Charter school management organizations and other groups

    See also: Charter school management organization

    In the 2010-2011 school year, four charter schools in Virginia were freestanding, meaning they were not managed by an education management organization or charter management organization. Charter schools in Virginia have yet to gain serious momentum. As such, there are no state charter advocacy organizations and no state authorizers.[16]

    Innovation

    See also: Charter school innovation indicators and High-performing charter schools

    Charter school proponents argue that charter schools have the freedom to adopt more innovative practices, which in turn lead to improved academic performance. To get a sense of the level of innovation occurring in charter schools, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools surveyed charter schools across the country on the various innovative education practices they employed. Data was not available for Virginia. The table below displays the prevalence of a variety of innovative practices in surrounding states.[17]

    Charter schools with innovative practices, in percents (2011-2012)
    State Extended day Extended year Year-round calendar Independent study School-to-work Higher education courses Average
    Virginia No data available
    Maryland 23% 0% 15% 8% 8% 8% 10%
    North Carolina 25% 15% 18% 23% 13% 25% 20%
    West Virginia No charter school law
    Source: National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, "The Health of the Public Charter School Movement: A State-By-State Analysis," accessed October 3, 2014

    Ballot measures and legislation

    Ballot measures

    See also: School choice on the ballot and List of Virginia ballot measures

    Ballotpedia has tracked no statewide ballot measures relating to school choice in Virginia.

    Legislation

    The following is a list of recent charter school bills that have been introduced in or passed by the Virginia state legislature. To learn more about each of these bills, click the bill title. This information is provided by BillTrack50 and LegiScan.

    Note: Due to the nature of the sorting process used to generate this list, some results may not be relevant to the topic. If no bills are displayed below, no legislation pertaining to this topic has been introduced in the legislature recently.

    Recent news

    The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Virginia charter school. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

    Charter schools in Virginia - Google News

    See also

    School Board badge.png

    External links

    Footnotes

    1. ↑ Public School Review, "What is a Charter School?" accessed October 2, 2014
    2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 National Conference of State Legislatures, "Charter School Finance," accessed October 9, 2014
    3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
    4. ↑ Center for Research on Education Outcomes, "National Charter School Study," accessed October 9, 2014
    5. ↑ National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, "Total Number of Students," accessed October 9, 2014
    6. ↑ Virginia Commonwealth University, "A history of charter schools in Virginia," accessed November 27, 2014
    7. ↑ National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, "A Closer Look at the Charter School Movement," February 3, 2016
    8. ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "Table 203.70. Percentage distribution of enrollment in public elementary and secondary schools, by race/ethnicity and state or jurisdiction: Fall 2003 and fall 2013," accessed June 7, 2016
    9. ↑ National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, "The Health of the Charter Public School Movement: A State-by-State Analysis," March 2016
    10. ↑ National Association of Charter School Authorizers, "Types of Authorizers," accessed June 6, 2016
    11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, "Measuring up: Virginia," accessed November 27, 2014
    12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Education Commission of the States, "State profile: Virginia," accessed November 27, 2014
    13. ↑ National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, "Measuring Up To The Model: A Ranking of State Charter School Laws," January 2016
    14. ↑ The New York Review of Books, "The Myth of Charter Schools," November 11, 2010
    15. ↑ University of Arkansas Department of Education Reform, "Charter School Funding: Inequity Expands," accessed October 22, 2014
    16. ↑ National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, "The Health of the Public Charter School Movement: A State-By-State Analysis," accessed October 3, 2014
    17. ↑ National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, "The Health of the Public Charter School Movement: A State-By-State Analysis," accessed October 3, 2014
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