This week's question was, How many states have laws allowing for charter schools?

You answered: 32
The correct answer is 46.

Only Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Vermont do not have laws authorizing charter schools. West Virginia became the 45th state to authorize charter schools in 2019, when Gov. Jim Justice (R) signed House Bill 206. The state’s first charter schools were approved in November 2021.

Kentucky authorizes charter schools but does not currently have any in operation.

Nationally, charter school enrollment was estimated at 3,695,769 students—or about 7.5% of all public school students—in the 2020-2021 school year, according to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. Charter school enrollment has grown steadily over time. In 2000, the National Center for Education Statistics estimated that 448,343 students were enrolled in charter schools. By the 2021-2022 school year, the most recent year for which data are available, that number had grown to more than 3.6 million.

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