The claim that charter schools cause financial harm to school districts is a major element in the debate around charter schools in California. Critics allege that enrollment in charter schools drains resources from school districts, forcing them to make cuts to staff and services and eventually contributing to fiscal distress. The charge that…

Much attention has been focused on the costs charter school enrollment imposes on school districts. Getting an honest answer to this question is important for school districts so that they may adjust their expenditures appropriately. However, as Ladd and Singleton, the authors of a North Carolina study attempting to quantify those costs point out,…

In this article, the authors study charter growth in a single region as a case study: the Bay Area, which includes San Francisco and the cities, suburbs, and rural areas that surround it. California is one of the nation's leading charter school states, and charters have boomed in the Bay Area in particular. The area also is in the midst of a…

The current debate about charter schools' effects on school district finances hinges on enrollment loss. Critics claim that the surge in charter enrollment in California since 2000 has driven enrollment loss statewide--cutting districts' income more than their costs, especially in cities where many students attend charter schools. State officials…

In cities where public charter schools serve a large share of students, the costs of ongoing sector divisions and hostility across district and charter lines fall squarely on students and families. Exercising choice and accessing good schools in "high-choice cities" can be difficult for many families, especially some of the most…

Through research and policy analysis, the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) seeks ways to make public education more effective, especially for America's disadvantaged students. CRPE helps redesign governance, oversight, and dynamic education delivery systems to make it possible for great educators to do their best work with students…

Since the first charter school law was passed in 1991, the relationship between charter schools and districts has been rife with conflict. To no one's surprise, districts have fiercely resisted competition from public schools of choice, especially when that competition grows beyond just a small number of schools and poses a real threat to the…

When the pandemic forced schools to move online, no one was prepared. It was a true crisis, but out of crisis often comes innovation and discovery. That is exactly what a fall 2020 nationally representative survey from the American School District Panel, a collaboration between RAND, CRPE, Chiefs for Change, and Kitamba, found. A RAND report…

New legislation in California will allow school districts, such as Oakland Unified School District (OUSD), to consider the "financial and academic impact" when approving or denying applications for new charter schools. OUSD has been in fiscal distress in the past and faces fiscal challenges that continue to play out in classrooms across…

In April 2010, the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation convened a group of researchers and financial analysts to discuss how to better understand the financing and sustainability of Charter Management Organizations (CMOs). The goals of the meeting were twofold: (1) to suggest a set of common ways…

Charter school management organizations (CMOs) have emerged as a popular means for bringing charter schooling to scale. Advocates credit CMOs with delivering a coherent model of charter schooling to a growing number of children across numerous sites. Skeptics have wondered whether CMOs constitute an effective management approach, whether they…

In February 2011, the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) convened a conference to help districts implementing school choice under the U.S. Department of Education's Voluntary Public School Choice program. The conference, sponsored by the Department of Education, provided grantees access to the most current knowledge from district and…

The National Study of CMO (charter management organizations) Effectiveness is a national, longitudinal research effort designed to measure how nonprofit charter school management organizations (CMOs) affect student achievement, and to examine the internal structures, practices, and policy contexts that may influence these outcomes. The study began…

School district associations across the country have often opposed charter school legislation as strongly, or more strongly, than have teachers unions. They typically argue charter schools will threaten the tradition of local control of schools by elected officials, drain their financial resources, and distract them from pursuing…