Listen to the episode below. A full transcript follows.

Michael Horn: Governor, Ryan, welcome to The Future of Education. Thanks for being here.

Governor Bush: Good to be at a Primer school.

Michael Horn: Yes, it is indeed. And the history, Governor, of publicly funded widespread universal school choice, educational choice in Florida really gets its start from your time as Governor. You have laws in 1999, 2001, I鈥檇 say 2003, with funding following the student to Florida Virtual. You have all these milestones. As you look back now, 2026, at the state of educational choice here, how would you describe where we are in Florida? Where in the movement, if you will, are we right now?

Governor Bush: We鈥檙e not completely there, but we certainly got to scale for sure. When we started, I think we had 80 kids in that, parents went to a private school with public money. And that鈥檚 expanded over time. One voucher program, another corporate tax scholar program. Today, over 50% of parents in Florida choose where their kids go to school. It could be we have universal public school choice, we have universal Education Savings Accounts. And so we鈥檙e, we鈥檙e building what I think is the right way to educate our children by empowering parents. It鈥檚 really exciting.

Michael Horn: And as you noted, we鈥檙e sitting in a , literally one of hundreds of microschools, low-cost private schools throughout the state right now. I鈥檓 curious, did you envision this sort of education entrepreneurship that we鈥檝e seen when you were Governor?

Governor Bush: I didn鈥檛 envision anything. I hoped that it would happen. My personal belief is that parents deserve to have this power to choose where their kids go to school and if they do that, that there will be schools like Primer, more tools for homeschool kids. Charter schools will emerge. The religious schools that were in decline in terms of providing education to their students would see growth, all of that. I was hopeful it would happen, and I鈥檓 proud that Florida has been a leader. But it鈥檚 also exciting to see it happen across the country.

Michael Horn: Ryan, you鈥檝e been a direct beneficiary of really the foresight of these policies that I think it鈥檚 fair to say. And you also, as I understand it, have quite an intergenerational connection as well when it comes to microschools, educational choice in Florida. What鈥檚 your family connection to the story that鈥檚 unfolded here that started under Governor Bush?

Ryan Delk: Yeah, it鈥檚 interesting. There鈥檚 a very personal connection, but then there鈥檚 also this sort of interesting macro connection. And the personal connection is my mom was a public school teacher, so she was very pro-public schools. We were zoned for. She took me to kindergarten orientation at the school that we were zoned for. And she quickly realized that it was a failing school. It wasn鈥檛 going to meet, you know, her standards for us. We were living with, in my grandparents house at the time in a low income area outside Orlando.

We didn鈥檛 have, you know, any choice to move. We couldn鈥檛 afford private school. And so she just took matters into her own hands. And so she ended up starting one of the first kinds of homeschool microschools in Florida. She got me and my siblings and then about a dozen other kids together and she just willed this thing into existence. And what鈥檚 interesting, and this is where it kind of connects to the macro. So I, this incredible education that frankly was like, you know, significantly higher quality than, you know, what I would have, you know, deserved, you know, relative to our socioeconomic status or what you would have expected. And what鈥檚 interesting is that she started that right before Governor Bush鈥檚 first term.

Impact of Governor Bush鈥檚 Policies

Ryan Delk: And so, we sort of experienced, you know, what I think of as the before times and it was very contrarian. We got a lot of questions. I think she was frankly judged by a lot of people, you know, for, for doing what she did. And then when Governor Bush took office, he, you know, sort of decided to, to go to the mat for, you know, a lot of these issues and make it a key priority. And so we, we actually sort of experienced the shift where it was, it was you know, not only just normalized but sort of like celebrated and empowered. And so I now feel this frankly like a real weight and responsibility as sort of the first generation to benefit from these policies. And then now, three decades later, you know, getting to spend my life building schools like this that open up those same opportunities to students with the same, you know, structure and work that, that not only, you know, Governor鈥檚 administration, but many, many folks since then have carried the torch to unlock these opportunities for kids. And so the weight of that is not lost on me.

And I think it鈥檚 quite powerful that we鈥檙e sort of seeing the second generation now. The folks that had the, that got these opportunities from, from sort of generation one of these programs now being able to reinvest in the next generation is, is quite exciting.

Michael Horn: Well, and it鈥檚 fascinating, right, that narrative of ostracism almost to norm, to expectation, right, for families. And as I understand it, you all at Primer are thinking a lot about the policy and regulatory landscape and some of the critical questions when it comes to things like microschools and the like, zoning, fire safety codes, things of that nature. I know there have been some big developments over the past couple years in Florida around some of those zoning questions. Can you just update us both on what鈥檚 happened, but also why it matters so much?

Ryan Delk: Yeah, so we are, we鈥檙e one of 鈥� there鈥檚 a lot of people doing great work on this ExcelinEd. There鈥檚 a ton of great, great orgs. And so we are one of many people that are working on this issue. There is one, you know, very narrow and perhaps, I think, very underrated, but maybe, you know, kind of unexciting part of the regulatory landscape that I happen to care a lot about, and that is the regulations around new school supply. So there鈥檚 an enormous amount of energy that鈥檚 gone into what I would articulate as the demand side, unlocking funding for parents, making sure that the funding follows the student. And that鈥檚, you know, as we discussed, many decades in the making. But now that that exists, the reality is that a lot of the regulations around starting new schools, and I learned this firsthand, like the amount of nights and weekends that I spent early on at Primer staring at zoning maps of cities and counties is far more than I ever anticipated.

And the reason for that is that there鈥檚 all these regulations that sort of, you know, take as a sort of starting assumption that every school is still a, you know, 60,000 square foot, $30 million build to serve 2,000 students. And so in that framework where every single school looks like that, of course there鈥檚 traffic studies and school bus parking and very intense building regulations, that all makes sense in that context. But now in this world where you have a great educator who wants to open up a school in a church or a community center or, you know, a facility like this, those regulations are quite arduous. And they鈥檙e arduous, you know, we鈥檙e a fairly sophisticated operation. They鈥檙e arduous at times for us, but, but in many ways they鈥檙e impossible for like a sort of seasoned educator that wants to go serve their community. And so what I care is the sort of common sense, right sizing of these regulations specifically for small schools.

So for the large schools, a lot of what鈥檚 in place is, I think, serving that need really well. It makes a lot of sense. But for small schools, we want to make it much easier for those schools to open up in existing facilities to serve their community. And the reason that I care a lot about this is that I鈥檝e seen firsthand stories of dozens, maybe hundreds of educators who want to start not just primaries, but all sorts of types of schools who reach out to us and say, hey, I got stuck. I have, you know, I鈥檓 trying to get this building permit, I鈥檓 trying to get this code, I can鈥檛 figure out zoning, or I鈥檝e got to do a nine month variance process. All these things that are sort of just, just incredibly arduous for the task at hand. And so we spend a lot of time and a lot of energy from a legislative perspective making sure that we can knock down those barriers.

Michael Horn: Governor, I want to broaden the view now beyond Florida and think about these sorts of questions, supply questions, others, in the context of this sort of nationwide movement right now we鈥檙e seeing toward educational choice. And I鈥檓 curious both of your takes on a couple of items that we can run down. First, it strikes me just thinking about what you said on the zoning side of it. As an onlooker, there鈥檚 a pretty robust demand right now for different options that meet different kids needs. But the supply side that you just described, so you鈥檙e taking some significant steps there, but getting a sustainable supply side that鈥檚 affordable, low cost, private schools like Primer. What鈥檚 holding up the supply side? What else should we be thinking about in terms of that? Or maybe my perspective is wrong on this, but I would love to think about how do we really encourage this robust supply side.

Governor Bush: Ten years ago, the big fight was how do we get charter schools to be able to access, as public schools to access public capital, what we call in Florida pico dollars. And that was a struggle because look, the public schools feel threatened by all these choices. I mean my, my hope and dream is that there鈥檒l be a superintendent in Miami-Dade County or some other place that says every child that goes to school in my county is my responsibility, and I鈥檓 going to create a menu of options for parents, and I鈥檓 going to try to do everything I can to make sure that every child succeeds.

Michael Horn: So really helping them navigate to the right option.

Funding challenges for private schools

Governor Bush: Yeah, but if you had that attitude, you wouldn鈥檛 be, you know, making it impossible for a private school to get a permit or you wouldn鈥檛 have, you wouldn鈥檛 restrict private capital to come in. I mean, there鈥檚 really one institutional source of money for private school capitalists, the Drexel Fund, which is for Catholic schools. The charters have, you know, three or four fundraising operations for their capital growth needs. So that鈥檚 part of it is you need to have more private philanthropy come in. But ultimately this should be a state responsibility as well. I mean, do we, do we do this in Medicaid? Do we have government run doctors and government run nurses and government run clinics? Some, but it鈥檚 not the dominant way that someone that is qualified for Medicaid gets access to healthcare. We should have the same mindset for education. And I think you would have an acceleration of really interesting options both in terms of hybrid learning, you know, where a parent could choose to take care of many much of their healthcare, their education needs, or they could go to Primer and take some of the money maybe and go to do something that accelerates the learning.

This is where we鈥檙e moving and there鈥檚 still, it鈥檚 work in progress. But I鈥檓 really excited that Ryan and others like him, education entrepreneurs, are advancing this at a pace that鈥檚 pretty exciting.

Michael Horn: Ryan, what鈥檚 your take on this in terms of the sustainable supply? What鈥檚 it going to take to get supply to meet the demand that we鈥檙e seeing?

Ryan Delk: I think it鈥檚 all about cost. And we have this core value that acts as the constraint. And so we start from the place of Primer needs to be accessible to every family, regardless of income. We鈥檝e never turned away a student. And so some of the regulatory work that we鈥檝e discussed that to me is all connected to this idea of how do you get these schools open as efficiently as possible and then how do you get the cost to educate down where parents can attend these schools for ideally nothing. Ideally it鈥檚 completely free. They just use their ESA and they can just attend the school. But if there is some out of pocket, it鈥檚 50 bucks a month or 75 bucks a month.

And to me that is the key thing to unlock because then these scholarships are accessible or they鈥檙e unlocking opportunities for the families that need it most. The families that can afford a $15, $20,000 a year school, they don鈥檛 necessarily need these options as desperately as the families that are trapped in schools that are not serving their needs. And so that鈥檚 what we鈥檙e obsessed with. And I think there鈥檚 a kind of growing coalition that鈥檚 really focused on this low cost, high quality private school.

Michael Horn: Second thing I鈥檓 curious about, and we鈥檒l go to my inner wonk here, your inner wonk here, which is there鈥檚 been a big proliferation of Education Savings Accounts across the country right now. But there are subtleties in the policies in different states, and I鈥檒l just name a few of them because I鈥檓 curious what you all think about the impact of these differences. I鈥檓 thinking of the increasing number of states with accreditation requirements for example. Florida, you know, does not. You have some states that require external assessments of students in these low cost private schools. Some don鈥檛. Some states are tuition first ESAs and some are not. Some allow you to roll over dollars even for post secondary education.

So it really creates a savings and value ethos as opposed to others that are not. We in the media often call these all ESA states. Are we sort of masking over these subtleties? Do they matter, the variants? Are we lumping them sort of at expense of understanding what we鈥檙e really trying to create here? What鈥檚 your perspective on these differences?

Importance of State Flexibility

Governor Bush: My perspective is that鈥檚 all good. You know, if we had one size fits all, it鈥檇 probably be driven out of Washington and that would be. It wouldn鈥檛 happen. It would be an unmitigated disaster. So having states have the ability to implement as best they can a version of ESA and then modify it as they go along because someone from another state鈥檚 done something interesting like the Education Savings Account where you can reinvest it if you didn鈥檛 spend the whole amount. I mean that鈥檚 an interesting idea that may catch on for all the states that don鈥檛 have it now. To me, I think the baseline should be there鈥檚 a financial responsibility that if you鈥檙e taking taxpayers money directly or indirectly, you should be a good steward of that money. And there鈥檚 health and safety issues that are really important, particularly for young kids. Beyond that, let鈥檚 let a thousand flowers bloom and come up with the best approach.

The important thing is that we get to scale so that parents demand that no one tries to take it away. That鈥檚 the first mission and that鈥檚 happening. You know, if 50% of all kids in Florida parents choose, it鈥檚 going to be hard to imagine if someone wants to come and try to re regulate this and have it just be traditional schools being the only option. I don鈥檛 think that鈥檚 going to happen. Texas, you know, having a hundred thousand kids to start with and over time that growing is going to create another kind of scalable moment for that state. And so if you try to impose a bunch of rules on top of that, it鈥檚 not going to grow at the speed that I think will make it more effective.

Michael Horn: Ryan, what鈥檚 your take on the variance?

Ryan Delk: I mean, I鈥檓 a personal big fan of federalism so I just have a personal bias towards that. But I think what I鈥檓 encouraged by is the movement is coalescing around the right things. And so when you look at the programs that have launched recently, they have measures to make sure that the providers are delivering for students, they鈥檙e fiscally responsible, the dollars are flowing to low-income, working-class, middle-class families that need them. And so I鈥檓 really encouraged by the way, I think the last four programs that have launched at scale have all had versions of that in place. And I think if that鈥檚 taking the best practices from other states, implementing them into new programs, and if that continues then I鈥檓 quite optimistic.

Improving financial accountability systems

Governor Bush: You know, one of the things that could be done in a federal system, and it鈥檚 happening right now, and ExcelinEd is working on this is to create a coding project because right now the technology isn鈥檛 the same as it would be for a health savings account, for example, or think about your MasterCard or Visa. All this stuff is done, you know, we have no clue how it, at least I don鈥檛 have any clue how it works, but it works really well. Whereas if you think about all the coding that could happen to make sure that there鈥檚 financial accountability and also that parents aren鈥檛 out of pocket making these commitments that they don鈥檛 have the resources to do because of some bureaucratic snafu at the state level. So there are things that could be done, but those are more like private sector enhancements that will make this more effective.

Michael Horn: And I guess it also helps the supply side so that those dollars actually reach the operators. Right. Ryan, you鈥檙e not sitting there waiting for it. Let me ask, Governor Bush, if we zoom out, what do you see as the big flashpoints to come in educational choice? It could be Florida, but also nationwide.

Governor Bush: Well, you can see it happen if there is, I鈥檒l use Florida as an example. We have several hundred thousand, we have half of all the ESA kids are in our state. So you could have 1/10 of 1% of those transactions take place in a way that is inappropriate as they鈥檙e trying to sort out. You know, you鈥檙e dealing with scale, it鈥檚 hard to do all that. And so then you know, Senator Schmidlap will want to say well we need to like regulate this and regulate that. That鈥檚 the biggest danger is Washington getting involved or states trying to re regulate to deal with the tiny fraction of problems that impacts 99.9% of families. So regulate in terms of testing. We should trust parents to make these decisions and then give them the tools to be informed consumers and give them an array of choices.

And we need to protect that. That to me, you can see this happening at the state level. New governor comes in, they feel compelled to do something. And I鈥檓 very fearful of Washington getting involved. I鈥檓 excited about the tax credit program, but I haven鈥檛 seen the rules. And, you know, I鈥檓 paranoid about this stuff because I鈥檝e seen there鈥檚 too many examples of Washington with good intentions getting things wrong.

Michael Horn: Ryan, I鈥檇 love to hear your reflections on the big flashpoints of the moment and both to comment around what the Governor just named, because you鈥檙e operating not just in Florida. So what are you seeing as those big questions or big issues that the field鈥檚 going to really have to think about or protect against in the years to come?

Focus on quality in education

Ryan Delk: I mean, I think a lot of people care a lot about education in this country, and that鈥檚 a good thing overall. And so there鈥檚, you know, people with strong perspectives on both sides. A lot is changing. The world is changing really quickly. And my view on this is there will continue to be flashpoints, there鈥檚 going to continue to be contentious policy debates and accreditation and testing and all these things. But I really believe, I have deep conviction that if we stay focused on delivering high-quality academic outcomes in a way that鈥檚 accessible for every family, that is the winning strategy. And if we can stay laser focused on that and all the inputs to that, from, you know, great rigorous academics to unlocking the regulatory environment for new schools to open, to empowering educators to serve their communities, if we stay just maniacally focused on that, I think everything else falls into place. Because when you unlock those opportunities for those kids, and it鈥檚 not just that family that becomes a huge advocate for this movement, it鈥檚 their city council member, their city commissioner, all these people start to see, wow, this is transforming this community.

And when you do that, I think that is the winning focus. And so I hope that that can be the thing that we all rally around. And obviously these flashpoints will continue to happen. But that鈥檚 what we鈥檙e focused on. We鈥檙e going to stay maniacally focused on that. And I think a lot of other folks will too.

Michael Horn: I was curious about the assessment piece of this.

It seems this is much more of a trust the parents accountability model model that you鈥檇 sign up for as opposed to with traditional public schools. Let鈥檚 test. Is that accurate?

Governor Bush: It鈥檚 accurate, but I think parents 鈥� most states do have norm reference tests as a measurement of how kids are doing. And if you want parents to be empowered to make these choices, they need to be informed about the caliber of the education. So I personally support the idea of norm reference tests, and that鈥檚 the norm across the country. But I鈥檓 respectful of places like Arizona that, you know, want to have a little more libertarian approach. It seems to work well there, and maybe it鈥檚 part of their culture, a little bit more of their culture than it is in another place in the country.

Michael Horn: Final word. Governor, as you reflect over a quarter century of publicly funded choice in Florida, and we sit in a school that probably could not have existed, serving the students, you know, that could not have been in such an environment before if it weren鈥檛 for these policies that you started to put in place. What are your final reflections?

Governor Bush: Look, when you get a chance to serve, it鈥檚 really cool over the long haul to see successive legislatures and Governors embrace this idea and build on it. And I鈥檓 proud that our political leadership over the last 25 years has accelerated this. And my hope is that it stays the course. Look, big ideas take a long time. You could be patient. You got to be stubborn. In some cases you can. You just, you gotta, you know, stick with it.

Parental involvement in education

Governor Bush: And in Florida, that鈥檚 the case, I don鈥檛 think. And I would say there are external issues as well. If we didn鈥檛 have COVID, which allowed parents to really realize that maybe their kids weren鈥檛 getting the education that they thought they were getting because they became the teachers of their kids and they saw the slop that many of them sadly had to deal with, that accelerated it even more. So I鈥檓 excited about this. I think it鈥檚 really important that we stay the course because the world we鈥檙e moving toward at warp speed is exciting, but it鈥檚 also really scary. And you want to make sure that kids can read at the end of third grade in a capable way so that they can learn in a dramatic way, and that parents know what鈥檚 best for their kids to make the right choices. And there鈥檚 an array of them. That鈥檚 the mission, and it seems to be doing quite well right now.

Michael Horn: Governor, Ryan, thank you so much for joining me in this conversation.

What can the state do? One step might be to continue expanding its charter school sector, especially the brick-and-mortar schools serving predominantly Black and Hispanic students.

Oklahoma鈥檚 declining NAEP scores represent a sample of students across both traditional and charter schools, but Oklahoma has been fortunate to have a relatively successful charter sector. For example, using data through 2019, a Harvard found that Oklahoma had the sixth-highest-performing charter sector in the country.

A from the Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board allows for a deeper, more up-to-date analysis. The biggest takeaways focus on size, performance and cost.

Both brick-and-mortar and virtual charters have grown in Oklahoma, collectively increasing from about 51,000 students in the 2022-23 school year to 55,000 last year. In the 2024-25 school year, 35,831 students attended a virtual charter and 19,190 were enrolled in brick-and-mortar charter schools. All told, charters serve about 8% of all public school students in the state.

A of student performance found 31 of 49 brick-and-mortar charter schools outperformed their neighboring traditional schools last year. For example, students at Stanley Hupfield Academy and John W. Rex Charter Elementary School outperformed the Oklahoma City average by 21 and 20 percentage points, respectively. The Dove and Santa Fe charter networks each had several standout schools, including Dove Science Academy, where students outscored nearby traditional schools by 34 points and which we named a Bright Spot for its third grade reading proficiency.聽The largest outperformance was notched by a standalone charter called Deborah Brown elementary school in Tulsa, where students scored 59 points higher than peers in the neighboring district.聽

As for virtual charters, the analysis found that only one 鈥� the Oklahoma Connection Academy High School 鈥� outperformed the statewide average, while 15 did not.

Note: Brick-and-mortar charter schools are compared to the traditional public schools in their physical districts. Virtual charters are compared to all traditional schools in the state.

A new from Adam Tyner at the University of Oklahoma made similar comparisons for high schools. At that level, students attending brick-and-mortar charters had slightly lower ACT scores than peers attending traditional public schools, but they had higher graduation rates 鈥� especially the low-income students. Meanwhile, the virtual charters had significantly worse outcomes. 

Notably, Oklahoma鈥檚 charters are getting these results with significantly less money. According to the state charter board, traditional public schools received $10,643 per student in state and local funding last year, compared with $9,684 for brick-and-mortar charters. This disparity of almost $1,000 per student has widened over time and is largely due to the fact that charters do not have the same access to money for facilities and do not receive the same share of local revenues that traditional district schools do.

Closing this funding disparity would likely boost outcomes for charter students even further.

While it is impossible to know for sure whether Oklahoma鈥檚 charter schools are getting their results by cherry-picking the best students, or even whether the rise of charters may have contributed to stagnation on the part of traditional public schools, suggests that’s not the case. If anything, traditional schools tend to get higher scores when they face increased competition in the form of charter schools.

For instance, Tulane University researchers Feng Chen and Doug Harris found that the effects from this type of competition tend to materialize when charter schools a 10% market share in a given district. The new charter found that Oklahoma now has six communities where charters have surpassed this threshold, led by Oklahoma City at 23%.

When I spoke with Rebecca Wilkinson and Shelly Hickman from the Oklahoma Charter Schools Board, they said they wanted to create an annual report that was comparative and meaningful, and to dispel myths about what charters are and are not. They are optimistic about increasing market share in more communities, and they hope that success can generate even more momentum across the state. 

Indiana鈥檚 charter school students have experienced greater academic growth in the years following the pandemic than their peers in traditional public schools, according to a new preliminary analysis.

The also found that the gains were particularly pronounced for Black and Hispanic students, and for those who were among the lowest-performing and economically disadvantaged.

The findings could hold important lessons for how schools can recover from learning loss and have sparked researcher interest in what tactics charter leaders adopted to do that. While there are many studies examining the impact of charter schools on student outcomes, the authors note that there has been almost no research on charter school performance since the pandemic.

The findings tracked students from 2017-18 to 2023-24, focusing on how ILEARN test scores improved from their baseline levels during the pandemic in 2020-21. They have prompted researchers to examine how certain schools responded in the years immediately following the 2020-21 school year.

鈥淲hat really matters is, what is it that these schools were doing?鈥� said Joseph Waddington of the Institute for Educational Initiatives at the University of Notre Dame, one of eight authors of the study. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not so much interested in telling a story of how did this sector (perform) versus the other sector 鈥� we want to understand why. We want to understand the variation.鈥�

The analysis, which is undergoing peer review, examined students who stayed in brick-and-mortar charter schools and in traditional public schools throughout the entire study period.

Charter students were matched with traditional public school peers who most closely resembled them based on a variety of factors, including their socioeconomic status, geographic location, and their 2021 ILEARN test score.

Most of the state鈥檚 charter schools are in Indianapolis, but the study also examined all counties in which charter schools are present. The analysis included few rural students, Waddington said, because of the lack of charters in those areas.

During the 2020-21 school year, charter students performed the same as their traditional public school peers in math and modestly outperformed them in English, according to the study. But after 2020-21, charter students outperformed traditional public students in all years in English, and nearly all years in math.

The difference was modest in 2021-22, but grew in 2022-23 and 2023-24, according to the study.

鈥淭he findings in this analysis suggest a shift occurred during the pandemic and its aftermath,鈥� the study concludes. 鈥淣ot only are students in Indiana鈥檚 charter schools experiencing more accelerated test score gains than their (traditional public school) peers, but these impacts appear to be growing over time in the post-pandemic period.鈥�

Chronic absenteeism and instructional delivery 鈥� whether in-person or virtual 鈥� did not account for the differences in achievement, the study found. Charter schools were more likely to offer virtual learning for more of the 2020-21 school year than traditional public schools.

In Indianapolis, charter schools as a whole have posted higher rates of Black and Hispanic students reaching proficiency in both math and English, compared with those run by Indianapolis Public Schools, according to a .

The study鈥檚 authors are examining what could contribute to the differences in outcomes between charters and traditional public schools by surveying school leaders in both sectors across Indiana, Waddington said.

The changes could be attributed to additional instructional time or differences in instructional type, such as having students spend more time in smaller pull-out groups, he said. He also said some schools may have added certain types of staff, or utilized certain partnerships to bring in tutors.

The study鈥檚 findings mirror broader research on charter school students鈥� performance that finds positive impacts for Black students, those from lower-income households, and the lowest-performing students, Waddington said.

But the researchers are hoping to learn more details from survey results about how schools responded to COVID learning loss.

鈥淭here may be something in the story about differences in how the sectors responded to the pandemic that can actually be illustrative for all sectors going forward in terms of best practices associated with learning loss recovery,鈥� he said.

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools. This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at .

OKLAHOMA CITY 鈥� After hours of witness testimony and pages of evidence, a struggling Oklahoma City charter school still has not convinced a state board that it should be allowed to stay open for another year.

The Statewide Charter School Board on Monday made the rare vote to terminate the founding charter contract for Proud To Partner Leadership Academy. The board first voted 9-1 to declare there is 鈥渃lear and convincing evidence鈥� the school violated that contract before agreeing unanimously to proceed toward canceling it.

Board members made their decision after a lengthy and uncommon termination hearing that began April 29 and continued on Monday. A few more procedural steps remain before the school鈥檚 charter contract could be canceled officially, after which point its state funding would be cut off.

If the southwest Oklahoma City high school closes, its 100 students will have to return to their home districts or find another educational option for the next academic year.

The only way to avoid a shutdown is if the school makes 鈥渟ignificant changes structurally鈥� in the coming days, said Brian Shellem, who leads the statewide board. He said the board would 鈥渆xtend a hand鈥� to the school and its attorneys to explore options.

Proud To Partner鈥檚 superintendent, Dawn Bowles, said the school鈥檚 leaders will wait to hear from the state board about what alternatives are available. In the meantime, students are 鈥渋n limbo of knowing where they will actually be next year,鈥� she said.

鈥淲e are still devoted and committed to doing what鈥檚 best on behalf of the families that we serve,鈥� Bowles said after the vote.

Throughout the termination hearing, state officials described Proud to Partner, known as PTPLA, as a school in financial and operational disarray since it opened in July 2024.

Attorneys representing PTPLA said the school was unfairly targeted in a 鈥渞ush to judgment鈥� and wasn鈥檛 given proper due process to address concerns.

鈥淭he evidence here will show there鈥檚 been a sort of fearmongering, a sort of hysteria, a flame of emotions that were overblown and overindulged,鈥� the school鈥檚 attorney, Kwame Mumina, said during the first day of the hearing.

Members of the statewide board鈥檚 staff testified that they came away with grave concerns about the school鈥檚 academic quality after visiting it.

Statewide Charter School Board executive director Rebecca Wilkinson, who visited PTPLA at least 15 times, said she saw signs of poor engagement of students. She reported seeing students sleeping or sitting in front of computers while not logged into classwork.

鈥淚 was concerned that too often students were not able to even tell me the course that they were working in, much less what they were doing,鈥� she said.

Wilkinson said she had further concerns over whether the school鈥檚 special education and child nutrition services complied with law and the charter contract.

PTPLA finances also raised red flags when the school finished its first year with a $250,000 deficit. This school year, three teachers were laid off from the small teaching staff because of a lack of funds.

鈥淭his school is spending money it doesn鈥檛 have, and that is an issue,鈥� said Thomas Schneider, the board鈥檚 attorney and deputy general counsel at the Attorney General鈥檚 Office.

Wilkinson initially reported seeing only during a site visit this fall. PTPLA leaders said the report was false and the three laid-off teachers continued working as volunteers. Those teachers have since been rehired on part-time pay.

Multiple members of the board鈥檚 staff and Oklahoma State Department of Education officials testified to having difficulty getting PTPLA administrators to respond to issues and to file financial reports on time.

School officials acknowledged they struggled with financial and operational difficulties, but they said it never compromised student learning. They said they were caught off-guard when the statewide board placed PTPLA on a November meeting agenda to discuss deficiencies at the school.

The statewide board in that November meeting ultimately .

Sharri Coleman, PTPLA鈥檚 school board president, said the state was too quick to punish rather than offer support.

鈥淚f we鈥檙e all for students, then you as a board, as my authorizer, would help my board to make sure that we are getting the supports that we need so that we can help those students,鈥� Coleman said on the witness stand.

After being placed on probation, PTPLA鈥檚 board from the state and contended there was 鈥渘othing to fix.鈥�

Statewide board members over the following months, contending school leaders refused to cooperate fully with state oversight. They finally ran out of patience in January, when they .

Bowles, PTPLA鈥檚 superintendent, warned that closing the school would harm the underprivileged students it was designed to serve.

鈥淢ost importantly, it will take away an opportunity to provide an education that is aligned to the needs of our Black and brown families in Oklahoma City,鈥� she said during the hearing.

For the charter contract to be canceled, the statewide board must vote again to approve findings of fact from the termination hearing. That vote could take place as soon as next week, Shellem said.

PTPLA then would have 10 days to file an appeal with the board and, if rejected, to take the matter to district court.

Bowles didn鈥檛 confirm or reject the idea of challenging the state board in court.

鈥淩ight now, we鈥檒l wait to hear from them as to what those next steps are,鈥� she said.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oklahoma Voice maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Janelle Stecklein for questions: info@oklahomavoice.com.

There are several answers to that question. I think one at the top of the list is figuring out how to use the tools that chartering developed, like performance contracting, authorizing, school-level autonomy, mission-driven governance and better measures of student success, to modernize all of U.S. public education for a changing economy and society.

No doubt, some of this has already occurred, as the charter idea has increasingly shaped mainstream expectations about how public schools should operate. 鈥� for example, and management. The challenge now is to ensure that chartering becomes a quality-and-opportunity strategy for all of K-12 public education.

The original charter idea was straightforward: a new type of public school that has the operational independence to design and run its own education program in exchange for being accountable for improved student results. Do this by allowing an organization called a to approve and oversee the schools. Over time, that approach expanded into a broader argument about flexibility, innovation, parent choice and pluralism in public education.

The growth of this new sector of public schools is substantial. , more than 3.7 million students attend 8,150 charter schools staffed by more than 251,000 teachers in states across the country, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam.

Research from Stanford University鈥檚 found that charter students gain the equivalent of 16 additional days of learning in reading and six additional days in math compared with peers in traditional public schools. The researchers also documented substantial variation in school quality.

That variation is one reason the next phase of implementing the charter idea should focus less on sector growth alone and more on building stronger K-12 public education systems with many different types of independent public schools of choice that are accountable for results.

Here are five priorities that policymakers, community leaders and K-12 stakeholders can use to guide that effort.

First, use the charter authorizing process to learn how to renew faltering district schools. Good charter authorizers close persistently weak schools, replicate strong schools and maintain public trust. Expand this approach to all public schools, including strengthening current authorizing standards, improving transparency and making it easier for effective public charter and district schools to grow, while closing persistently ineffective schools.

Second, expand how school success is measured. Effective charters have proven that they can improve test scores. Many also have shown that this isn鈥檛 enough. Schools should also be judged by whether students succeed after graduation according to different measures, including employment, earnings, college persistence, military service, apprenticeship completion and civic participation. The next generation of K-12 accountability systems should focus more directly on using multiple measures to track student success in pursuing long-term opportunity.

Third, create more career-connected schools. Charters have shown how operational autonomy can make it easier for educators to design schools around real-world learning. For example, in the Los Angeles area project-based learning, college partnerships, industry alliances, work-based learning and career-connected education, making these opportunities central to students鈥� experience. Other charter models 鈥� including schools with early-college, apprenticeship and schools workforce-partnerships programs 鈥� show how high schools can better connect learning to work, further education and civic life. The educators and community partners who build these models can help the broader K-12 system understand what it takes to redesign schedules, create employer and college partnerships, and respond quickly to changing workforce and community needs. 

Fourth, learn from charters how to think differently about building and using school facilities. Many charter schools lack equitable access to buildings and capital financing, diverting classroom dollars to rent and construction costs. This shortcoming has unleashed innovative models like the , , and . Lessons learned from this process should spur districts to think differently about their approach to school construction and use.

Fifth, focus on a 鈥渕ore good public schools鈥� strategy. Bridge the divide between charters and district schools by that replicates effective charter models within districts, which creates more good public schools. This can be done in many ways, including , charter-district , by charters, district schools, and community organizations, and .

All these efforts reflect a broader idea, which I call . A healthy and effective K-12 public education system should offer multiple high-quality pathways for young people with different goals, interests and talents. Charter schools are not the only way to create those pathways. But they remain one of the most flexible tools available for helping states and communities rethink how public education connects to opportunity.

The next phase of the charter school idea should not be about relitigating old ideological battles over public school choice. It should be about building a more flexible, accountable and opportunity-rich K-12 public education system inspired by the charter idea.

The Indianapolis Public Education Corporation, created by the state legislature this spring, will help pay for charter and district school buildings, create a busing system that includes charter students and take over from the city鈥檚 elected school board the ability to ask voters for tax increases. 

Indianapolis is already one of Experts predict charter schools could become even more popular in Indianapolis under IPEC, despite some community opposition that the new board strips power from the city鈥檚 elected school board and may drain money and resources from district schools.

Indianapolis won鈥檛 likely jump from the 51% of students attending charter schools today to the 99% in New Orleans, charter advocates say. Hurricane Katrina destroyed most schools there in 2005, prompting the dramatic shift from district schools to charter schools as the city rebuilt. Indiana faces no such crisis, but the state鈥檚 push to treat charter schools as equal to district schools makes the city nearly as charter-friendly. 

鈥淭his is going to be a game changing model for charter schools,鈥� said Cara Candal, vice president of policy for ExcelinEd, the education advocacy group of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

鈥淚t’s going to compare, at the very least, incredibly favorably [to New Orleans],鈥� Candal added. 鈥淭his might鈥ight鈥ctually put it over the top.鈥�

The new nine-person board, appointed by Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett, includes members of the Indianapolis Public Schools鈥� board, but leans heavily pro-charter. A majority of its members have worked for or served on boards of charter schools. Its chairman, David Harris is founder of several charter schools and led the Mind Trust, a local advocate of charter schools, until 2018.

The plan was opposed by the local NAACP and the National School Boards Association, which objected to the legislature making 鈥渁 shift from normal practice鈥澛燽y creating the new board.

鈥淗aving layers of governance can create unnecessary disruption,鈥� said the association鈥檚 CEO, Verjeana McCotter-Jacobs.鈥淲ho’s going to suffer from that? It’s going to be the community, parents and students.鈥�

Resident Megan Alderman, co-chair of Progressive Democrats of America, told the state senate at a February hearing the power shift聽鈥渦ndermines democracy.鈥�

鈥淚t strips core powers from our democratically elected school board, which is by definition, taxation without representation,鈥� she said.

IPEC鈥檚 superseding the school board breaks the pattern of other pro-charter cities including Denver and Baltimore, where the local school board keeps some control over planning and oversight of charters, while also helping pay for them and letting them use former schools.

Mike Petrilli, president of the pro-charter Fordham Institute, called the new board and sharing of assets 鈥渧ery different than what we’ve seen anywhere else, maybe with the exception of New Orleans.鈥�

Doug Harris, a Tulane University professor and expert on charter schools in New Orleans and nationally, said he could think of no other city, besides New Orleans, where a central board stepped in to oversee district and charter schools, other than state takeovers of districts because of bankruptcy or academic failure.

The first big step in the power shift will begin by Aug. 1 when the new board starts flexing its taxing authority. The board is expected to ask voters to approve a ballot measure for a tax that would provide more money for both district and charter schools.  

The new board will also research how to take the district鈥檚 busing plan and expand it to include charter school students by the 2028-29 school year, as the legislature requires.

And it will wade into a complicated tangle of property law and finance to merge district-owned schools and charter school buildings into one portfolio of properties for the new board to manage and maintain.

That will be a challenge experts believe no other city has faced on this scale. Managing school buildings centrally is simpler where districts share properties with charter schools and keep control of them. If a charter wants to build its own school, the district and charter can sort out who controls and pays for a building right from the start.

But Indianapolis is trying to create central control after-the-fact, with more than 60 charter schools, all with different building arrangements. Some use district buildings. Some lease old church schools. Others have purchased and rehabilitated old church schools. Some have built new facilities. And others have partnered with donors or community groups to rehabilitate old industrial buildings.

All of which have different financing and debt, or shared ownership with other nonprofits or companies, that block any easy merger of schools into a collective portfolio.

That鈥檚 partly why the legislature gave IPEC until the 2028-29 school year to take over buildings. 

The legislature also allowed the district and charters to choose whether they want to put each building under IPEC control, or not 鈥� with millions of tax dollars riding on that choice.

The state now gives charters $1,400 per student for facilities costs, but that money will shift to IPEC and only go to participating buildings. Charters can also receive a share of local property taxes designated for buildings, but only those that join the portfolio.

Charters lose out on both sources of money if they don鈥檛 join, said State Sen. Bob Behning, the Senate Education Committee chair who authored the bill.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a distinct disadvantage for a charter to opt out because they’re going to lose their [money],鈥� Behning said. 鈥淭hey’ll have no capital projects or no dollars for facilities.鈥�

Charters are researching how, and whether, they should have their buildings included.

鈥淪ome of the facilities that we have ownership in, if we have full site control and full ownership, we’re happy to leverage that ownership through IPEC and see how that plays out,鈥� said Tommy Reddicks, founder of the Paramount charter school network. 鈥淏ut we have some debt holders on some of our buildings, so it’s really not up to us whether or not we can give ownership away or share ownership. Because they’re the ones holding the note, they would have to approve anything like that.鈥�

Charter experts could not point to any other districts which had to sort out these issues at this scale. Even in New Orleans, where charter schools were still so new when Katrina hit, experts said, only one school at the time was privately-owned. After Katrina, that school and the state-created recovery school district shared insurance and federal Katrina relief aid to build a new building the district owns.

Behning said that so many details need to be researched and ironed out that he expects the legislature to change state law several times over the next few years. 

Disclosure: The Mind Trust provides financial support to 社区黑料.

A report released last month makes this even harder to ignore: New York State ranks among the most segregated in the entire country. That finding builds on a showing that deep school segregation in New York City has been the status quo since at least 2009. In some districts, the racial divide looks no different than it did in the 1930s.

Why have the state and the city failed to live up to the promise of excellent schools for all? Because a misconception persists: that building racially and economically diverse schools means lower quality and less academic rigor. Prospect Schools, a K-12 network of intentionally diverse charter schools in Brooklyn, was founded to challenge this notion, and I鈥檓 proud to have served as CEO since 2021. 

Brooklyn Prospect, our first campus, was the city鈥檚 first public charter school designed intentionally to be integrated along racial and socio-economic lines. Today, Prospect Schools serves almost 3,000 students across seven campuses, and is one of the few open enrollment public charter school networks offering the International Baccalaureate program to all high school students. Integrated schools benefit all students and raise performance across the board by spreading out resources and opportunity, expanding access to the best teachers and facilities, and preparing learners to thrive in a diverse world. 

The recent appointment of New York City Public Schools’ Chancellor Kamar Samuels and his policy agenda underscore that equity and excellence are not at odds. He garnered community support during previous leadership roles while  pursuing integration, an approach usually too controversial to touch. As superintendent of District 13 here in Brooklyn, he made the bold decision to replace exclusionary programs with school-wide IB enrichment. He understood that true equity isn鈥檛 about picking winners and losers; it鈥檚 about raising the ceiling for every child. 

Since taking office, Chancellor Samuels has signaled he is ready to hold this entire city accountable to a vision of education that is both radically inclusive and relentlessly rigorous. This is the right move for New York City. It also validates the approach to integrated education we rely on at Prospect Schools, where nearly two decades of work demonstrate that this vision can deliver meaningful results for students. 

We operate with a conviction that Samuels shares: that students learn best alongside peers who do not look, pray or live like them. At Prospect, we are 鈥渄iverse by design,鈥� which means we ensure that all of our classrooms reflect the vibrant diversity of the city through strategic recruitment, a weighted lottery, provision in our charter and a program that is inclusive and affirming. The result is a student body that is 29% White, 29% Black, 27% Hispanic and 10% multi-racial;  currently 44% of our students qualify for free and reduced-priced meals. 

We ensure all of our students have access to excellent teachers and rigorous academic curriculum which we model on the renowned IB Program. Through this globally recognized program, we raise the level of academic responsibility for all our students by cultivating curiosity, academic confidence, empowerment, global mindedness, community stewardship and life readiness. Further, we have proven that when you combine this intentional diversity with the high bar of the IB curriculum, the results are transformative.

Our students excel on state English language and math exams, most recently outperforming their city and district peers by 23 and 18 percentage points, respectively. This past year, over 80% of our graduating class was IB Diploma eligible, the highest in our history, and 100% of graduates were accepted into college. 

In Chancellor Samuels, I see a kindred spirit: a leader who understands that equity and excellence are not zero-sum competitors but twin pillars of a functioning democracy. Like Chancellor Samuels, I am the proud daughter of West Indian immigrants. I attended school in the Bronx and navigated the complexities of being a first-generation college student. Those experiences taught me early on that talent is distributed equally, but opportunity is not.

When I discovered the IB program, I saw a framework that didn鈥檛 just teach students what to think, but how to think. I knew then that this opportunity shouldn’t be reserved for private schools or select tracks of students 鈥� it belonged in every neighborhood and should be accessible to every child. 

We need this focus now more than ever. We are living in a time of deep polarization across our country, where echo chambers are solidifying into concrete walls. If NYC schools continue to remain segregated by race, class or academic tracking, we are merely preparing the next generation to perpetuate this divide. By championing integrated schools, academic excellence for all and global-mindedness of the IB, Chancellor Samuels is offering an antidote to this fragmentation. 

We鈥檝e worked in education long enough to know that idea is not only wrong, it鈥檚 dangerous. And if educators let it guide the future of schooling, we鈥檒l hurt the very children we say we鈥檙e trying to serve.

For more than two decades, we have led , an Indigenous, community-based public charter school in Northeast Los Angeles. We started this school because we believe education is not just a service 鈥� it鈥檚 a sacred responsibility that communities carry together. It is how communities sustain themselves, how culture is carried forward and how children learn to protect the world they will inherit. It was never meant to be a marketplace.

Yet the U.S. educational system increasingly treats it as one.

Schools are pressured to compete for students, buy pre-packaged curricula from multibillion-dollar publishing companies and outsource major decisions to consultants with a focus on standardization. Anyone who has sat through those meetings knows how quickly the conversation shifts from students to numbers. We鈥檝e seen teachers, parents and even children reduced to data points.

These aren鈥檛 random shifts. They are all part of a growing push to marketize education.

You can see this trend in national politics as well. Recently, President Trump highlighted a meant to set up trust funds for children to invest in the stock market. It was framed as an investment in their future. But it also sends a message: that children鈥檚 opportunities will depend not on the strength of their education or the support of their communities, but on their relationship to speculative financial markets.

At the same time, efforts to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education would place schools even more at the mercy of market forces. Yes, schools need funding. Yes, a functioning economy matters. But if schools teach children that their futures begin and end with the stock market, they are failing them. Their creativity, their relationships, their roots in community and their future鈥攖hose are the things that actually carry them through life.

We know this because we鈥檝e watched it happen at our school.

For 23 years, Anahuacalmecac has drawn from Indigenous knowledge systems, systems that kept communities alive on this land long before California was called California. Our students learn Nahuatl, English and Spanish. They plant gardens and learn where their water comes from. They study their own histories, including the parts of California鈥檚 story that don鈥檛 make it into mainstream textbooks. They participate in cultural protocols. They learn that they belong to a community and that their choices matter.

This isn鈥檛 nostalgia. It鈥檚 preparation for the world they鈥檙e inheriting.

In parts of Los Angeles, kids grow up breathing unhealthy air and drinking water that isn鈥檛 always safe. Their families struggle with rent. Parks and open land disappear to development. The effects of climate change show up in severe weather and devastating wildfires, in asthma rates and in the daily lives of students. These crises aren鈥檛 limited to L.A., or even California. This is the reality for many children across the country 鈥� and the globe.

Schools can鈥檛 pretend these conditions don鈥檛 exist. Our job is not simply to help young people navigate crises; it鈥檚 to give them the tools and imagination to change them.

That requires something beyond training students for the workforce. It means teaching resilience, curiosity, cultural memory and responsibility to the places they come from. It means helping them recognize that their value is not determined by an economy, but by their ability to strengthen their communities and repair what has been harmed.

This approach isn鈥檛 just Indigenous. Denmark鈥檚 education system 鈥� a model U.S. policymakers often praise 鈥� focuses on creativity, collaboration and student well-being. Danish children aren鈥檛 pushed into competition at every turn or told that their future hinges on financial speculation. They are taught to think, to create and to care for the world they live in. The U.S. could learn from that.

At our school, we鈥檝e seen firsthand that when students understand who they are and what they carry from previous generations, they don鈥檛 run from hard problems. They move toward them with confidence.

So we have to ask: What if our public education system centered on children鈥檚 well-being instead of the demands of the market? What if schools invested as much in belonging and culture as they do in standardized tests and outside consultants? What if they trusted communities 鈥� and children 鈥� to shape solutions that actually address the problems they face?

The crisis in public education isn鈥檛 because families or teachers failed. It鈥檚 because its roots in colonial missions to civilize our ancestors, factory models of training wage laborers and Native American聽boarding schools committed to destroying culture and language still embody the illusion of democracy through government schooling.

Educators can choose to transform this reality.

When we all create schools grounded in dignity, culture, connection and care, we prepare young people not just to face the future but to shape it. And if we want a healthy society 鈥� one capable of meeting climate, social and economic challenges 鈥� there is no better investment than that.

These changes led to exceptional improvements in academic outcomes, as researcher Doug Harris has thoroughly . In the two decades since, however, no city has attempted such an ambitious structural reform.

Until now.

The Indiana General Assembly on Wednesday passed , a dramatic restructuring of public education within the boundaries of Indianapolis Public Schools. The bill was a direct result of recommendations made by the Indianapolis Local Education Alliance, of local education and civic leaders. Chaired by Mayor Joe Hogsett, the alliance voted 8 to 1 in December to support a that proposed, among other things, revamping facility and transportation management for public schools within IPS boundaries.

Indiana legislators used these recommendations to craft HEA 1423, and The Mind Trust advocated for the bill because it presents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to create a school system that serves all students well. The legislation establishes the Indianapolis Public Education Corporation, which will have a nine-member board appointed by the mayor. Board members will include representatives from IPS and charter schools, as well as facilities and transportation experts with extensive knowledge of sound business practices. This new entity will be tasked with several key activities, among them:

• Creating a unified transportation plan to ensure that all public school students have access to safe, quality and efficient transportation.
• Developing a system-level facilities plan that would maintain, and potentially own, buildings for all schools that choose to opt in.
• Levying property taxes for both operating and capital costs so that all public schools within IPS boundaries benefit equally.
• Establishing a unified performance framework, including the default closure of persistently low-performing schools, that charter authorizers and IPS would be tasked with implementing.

The changes will effectively put charters and traditional public schools on the same footing 鈥� both in terms of the money spent per student and the consequences for poor performance.

All of this comes at a critical time for IPS. Today, a clear majority of public-school students within IPS boundaries attend charter schools, not IPS-managed schools. IPS has struggled to adjust to this new reality and, as a result, is running a $44 million structural deficit this school year, which is projected to grow significantly in the coming years. Without significant changes, the district will exhaust its rainy-day fund next year, risking insolvency and state takeover. 

Underutilized buildings and inefficient operations are key drivers to the district鈥檚 financial woes. An independently governed authority has the potential to both significantly downsize the district鈥檚 facility footprint and ensure the efficient provision of transportation. This structure also benefits charter schools by ensuring universal access to transportation and fully eliminating over time the funding disparity that currently leaves charter schools with about $8,000 less per student than traditional public schools.

While hard decisions remain for IPS, the legislation creates the opportunity for a reimagined school system, acknowledging that the status quo is no longer acceptable. The revolutionary component of the bill is simple but powerful: Separating the education of children from the management of operations. This approach allows educators to focus more time on what鈥檚 happening in the classroom. IPS will now become another school operator alongside charter schools, and district schools will compete on the same playing field and be held to the same accountability standards.

Critically, HEA 1423 allows for greater efficiency and coordination at the system level while safeguarding school autonomy and the ability to innovate at the school level. The new corporation鈥檚 role is well defined and limited to facilities, transportation and the creation of a new performance framework. Schools will be in charge of what happens inside classrooms and will even have the option to continue owning their buildings 鈥� and foregoing local debt service funds 鈥� if they feel the facilities plan does not meet their unique needs. A collaborative, multi-year planning process will ensure thoughtful implementation and the ability to identify future legislative tweaks.

Unlike New Orleans, where a hurricane forced leaders to quickly rebuild a school system, Indianapolis鈥� approach is a product of decades of methodical reforms and, more recently, a diverse group of local leaders coming together to reimagine what鈥檚 possible. And unlike more recent attempts at reform like Houston鈥檚 state takeover, this legislation activates a form of local mayoral control that has never before been tried: one that respects school autonomy while providing a single point of accountability for the financial and operational health of public education.

Indianapolis has been a national leader in education innovation since the 2001 passage of the state鈥檚 charter school law. Through three different mayors of both political parties, strong mayoral and civic leadership have been the cornerstone of that progress. A growing body of research shows that the growth of charter schools in Indianapolis has led students to significantly more academic progress, closed achievement gaps and helped usher in key system-level reforms.

This legislation is the culmination of 25 years of concerted effort. Now the hardest work begins, implementing this system in a way that significantly improves student achievement and forever breaks the connection between socioeconomic background, student success and long-term life outcomes.

As districts across the country struggle to deal with declining birthrates, universal school choice and lagging student achievement, Indianapolis provides a potential model for cities looking to create a modernized school system built for the future 鈥� not for a world that no longer exists. If this new structure is implemented well in Indianapolis, it won鈥檛 take another two decades for other major American cities to replicate that success. A little bit of courage today will go a long way toward securing a bright future for our children.

Indianapolis 鈥� flyover country to some 鈥� might just have the roadmap to get there.

Disclosure: The Mind Trust provides financial support to 社区黑料.

And while just 19 states now offer taxpayer-supported , which allow families to spend public funds on the school or program of their choice, the policy has a growing constituency: Nearly half of parents strongly support it. 

Meanwhile, the constituency for annual testing is withering, with just 29% of parents saying they strongly support it.

The new revelations come from the second edition of , conducted by the policy group 50CAN, which operates chapters in 12 states. It surveyed parents in 50 states and Washington, D.C., and found small but significant improvements across five key educational areas, including satisfaction with school quality and student mental health support.聽

The findings paint a slightly different picture than the one we鈥檙e accustomed to seeing in accounts of crowding into school board meetings: 47% of parents now say they鈥檙e very satisfied with their child’s school, up from 45% in 2024. Satisfaction by low-income parents jumped five points, from 41% to 46%. 

Likewise, 41% are very satisfied with the kind of emotional and mental health support their children get at school, up four points from last year, with significant gains in critical transition grades such as sixth and ninth grade, both up about five percentage points. 

鈥淥verall, my takeaway is we shouldn’t get distracted by all the headlines, all the crazy stuff going on in the world,鈥� said Marc Porter Magee, 50CAN鈥檚 founder. 鈥淲e have a very reasonable shot at making education better in ways that will meaningfully improve kids鈥� lives. We’re generally heading in the right direction.鈥�

Among the findings: 

• Participation in tutoring rose from 19% to 24%, with the income gap nearly cut in half, from nine percentage points to five, but low-income families still struggle to get their kids tutoring, largely because of cost and transportation;
• 86% of parents now favor free tutoring, while 80% support free summer camps; 77% back open enrollment and universal ESAs;
• 49% of parents want their children to get a four-year degree, but only 38% believe it鈥檒l happen, with college affordability a huge sticking point; 
• While more high-income children participated in summer camp, overall participation dropped two percentage points; among low-income kids, it dropped three points; kids from high-income families are now twice as likely to attend, 61% vs 27%.

On the summer camp statistics, Porter Magee said, 鈥淢y takeaway from that is there’s still a need, and high-income families are really leaning into that. But low-income families are getting hit with affordability.鈥�

Responding to the findings, Keri Rodrigues, president of the , said, 鈥淧arents are fighting for a school that works for their kid, but when higher-income families can buy tutoring and summer learning while everyone else gets waitlists and paperwork, that鈥檚 not choice, it鈥檚 rationing.鈥�

She noted that the union鈥檚 polling shows that just 48% of public school parents say their child is 鈥渄efinitely academically prepared for next year鈥�; 31% say schools didn鈥檛 even tell them what skills their child needs.

As for satisfaction with mental health support, a 2024 found that 65% give schools an 鈥淎鈥� or 鈥淏,鈥� but that 31% give schools a 鈥淐鈥� or worse. 

She said her group鈥檚 findings on parents鈥� priorities are clear: 鈥淢ake tutoring, mental health supports, and quality learning time universal and easy to access, especially for low-income families. If we鈥檙e serious about outcomes, we have to be serious about access.鈥�

ESA support rising across political lines

Among the most significant findings, parents across the political spectrum are now increasingly interested in ESAs 鈥� 46% of Republicans, 49% of Democrats and 43% of Libertarians and Independents say they 鈥渟trongly support鈥� the idea, and among self-described members of the Green Party or , support climbs higher, to 57%. In most state-level debates on ESAs, political conservatives are their biggest supporters.

ESAs, as well as open-enrollment policies, which allows students to attend the public school of their choice, now command more support than charter schools, and by a wide margin: 46% to 36%.

Porter Magee said ESAs merit attention as an 鈥渁nti-majoritarian鈥� school choice policy that appeals to many different kinds of parents, for different reasons.

鈥淚f you’re on the far left, you probably don’t feel like your traditional public school and school district represents you and your values perfectly,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd it’s the same when you’re on the far right. A lot of times, the people who are most attached to traditional school districts are moderates 鈥� wealthy, suburban moderates. So it kind of does make sense.鈥� 

Porter Magee said he knows of no other parent polls that break out political beliefs like this, suggesting that conservative policymakers who favor ESAs and other school choice proposals should consider 鈥渁 strange-bedfellow strategy鈥� that invites Green and DSA-aligned parents. 鈥淢aybe they are better allies on some of these issues than we think.鈥�

More broadly, he said, 鈥淲e should not be writing off the left or the right when we’re trying to figure out the coalition that would actually pass these things.鈥�

Kids who are 鈥榡ust not doing a lot鈥�

The survey also broke out responses by about 1,000 parents who are K-12 teachers. It found that they鈥檙e significantly more likely to be very satisfied with their children鈥檚 school, and that their kids participate in summer programs, sports, community service, dual enrollment, and Advanced Placement/International Baccalaureate courses at higher rates. 鈥淭hey’re just more engaged,鈥� Porter Magee said. 鈥淭hey’re getting more out of their time as students.鈥�

Asked about their children鈥檚 grades, parents with kids who get mostly A鈥檚 reported that their children were more likely to do 30 minutes or more of homework, spend time with friends in person and read for fun 鈥� 鈥渁ll the things we want them to do,鈥� Porter Magee said. D and F students were more likely to play video games, scroll on their phones and access social media, their parents say. 

They also drop out of sports at higher rates, he said. 鈥淭hey’re just not doing a lot.鈥� 

The difference between how 鈥淎鈥� and 鈥淒鈥� students spend their time isn鈥檛 generally addressed in public policy, he said, 鈥減artially because we haven’t had the data, partially because we don’t know what to do about it. But I do think it’s an issue, and I think parents see it as an issue.鈥� 

Overall, Porter Magee said, the main finding from the survey is one of slow, incremental progress for kids, whose parents now feel that they have greater access to different kinds of opportunities. But the fact that much of that progress is largely enjoyed by high- and middle-income parents, he said, is problematic.

鈥淗ow would you create the public systems to make a more equal world, where all of those opportunities are available to everyone?鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat’s what we’re trying to do, and [what] the survey is helping us track.鈥�

That feeling increased after the club, known as the O.C. Carmichael Youth Center, was used as an all-day learning pod during the pandemic for kids that needed help taking classes online, a role clubs in many cities took on.

鈥淭his building sits empty,鈥� Wilson, now CEO of the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Northern Indiana Corridor, remembers thinking at the time. 鈥淲e want every inch of this space to be utilized as much as possible for kids.鈥�

So Wilson found an unusual way to get more use out of the building. 

After first considering loaning the 15,000 square foot space to a preschool, Wilson struck a deal with a charter school that builds many of its lessons around projects or field trips. The Career Academy Network of Public Schools, which has four other schools in the area, opened a K-5 elementary school with just over 110 students in the club at the start of the 2023-24 school year.

The partnership gives the Success Academy at Boys and Girls Club 鈥� which is not affiliated with the New York-based Success Academy charter schools 鈥� use of the building until 3 p.m. when the doors open to kids from other schools for the afternoon. Many of the school鈥檚 students stay for sports, crafts, and extra academic help with the same club aides that were in their classrooms.

鈥淭hey stay with the cohort that they’re with during the day,鈥� said Wilson. 鈥淭hat’s the whole idea, so that they can have that continuity of care. They know the strengths of the students that they’ve been working with all day.鈥�

Career Academies Superintendent Candida Van Buskirk called the afterschool lessons 鈥渁n additional power punch of literacy.鈥�

鈥淭here’s no acclimation of a new leader,鈥� said Van Buskirk. 鈥淭here’s no acclimation of a new curriculum. This is the work that we do all day long, and we’re just getting an extra dose after school.鈥�

Partnerships with schools are common for Boys and Girls Clubs, who run before and after-school programs across the country. Clubs are usually separate sites, but are often located at schools that have extra space.

But clubs hosting schools are rare. Van Buskirk said club leaders looked for clubs with similar arrangements when negotiating the partnership, but had no luck.

鈥淲e were unable to find one where it was fully enmeshed like this,鈥� she said. 

The partnership helps the charter school in several ways. The school and Boys and Girls Club have jointly applied for grants together, which they say has helped win some. 

In addition, the Boys and Girls Clubs nationally include teaching about careers a priority of their afterschool programs, which matches a focus of the Career Academies charter chain. As part of the partnership, Katie Rodriguez, the regional workforce development coordinator for the Boys and Girls Clubs, works with the school to arrange field trips that teach students about careers.

Those trips also fit the school鈥檚 experiential learning model. Students have visited community organizations like the local food bank, local colleges, the local library so students could take home their first library cards and a theater so students could see a play and learn about all the jobs there, from actors to lighting technicians to ticket sales. 

The school also invited a judge to preside over a mock trial of the Big Bad Wolf for blowing down houses of the Three Little Pigs.

One week last fall, students visited the meteorologist at a local television station after learning about weather and how meteorology works in class.

Teaonna Miller, a school employee who works with Rodriguez to set up visits, said the hope is that students connect what they learn in class to the rest of the world.

鈥淚f they’re learning about weather inside the classroom, we find destinations that we can take them to that would relate to and correlate with the weather,鈥� she said.

Mary Donlon, the school鈥檚 literacy coach, said the trips give students perspectives they otherwise miss out on.

鈥淭hey don’t go out of their neighborhoods very often,鈥� Donlon said. 鈥淭hey don’t go to museums. They don’t go to zoos on a regular basis. Generally, those experiences only happen in the school setting, and connecting it to academic things is really powerful.鈥�

How well the school is doing is hard to say, since it is only in its third year and draws students from a low-income part of the city. School officials are proud of its giant leap from 2024 to 2025 in third grade reading proficiency from 33% of students to 70% on state tests, after participating in a state literacy effort credited with boosting scores statewide.

New tests this spring will show if gains continue.

But Wilson said he tells other club officials to consider placing schools in their clubs. He said contributing to any gains by students just furthers goals of the clubs.

鈥淲e want what’s best for kids,鈥� Wilson said. 鈥淪o it’s well worth it.鈥�

The Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board voted unanimously against an application Monday for a virtual Jewish charter school, citing聽the state supreme court’s 2024 ruling that public funding for a religious school would violate state law.聽As expected, some board members voiced support for聽Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation.

“I think our hands are tied,” said Board Member Damon Gardenhire, who said he didn’t see much difference between Ben Gamla’s application and a now-closed Native American charter school that featured a “spiritual component.”聽

In a statement responding to the vote, Brett Farley, a member of the proposed school’s board, said organizers plan to challenge the decision in federal court. “Oklahoma families should have the freedom to choose schools that best meet their children’s needs 鈥� without losing strong options simply because they are faith-based,” he said.

The Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board is expected to deny an application for a Jewish charter school Monday, but will likely welcome organizers of the school to take them to court.

Peter Deutsch, founder of the Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation, and a former Democratic congressman, made his pitch for the school in January, saying that he aims to bring 鈥渁 rigorous, values-driven education鈥� to Jewish parents in Oklahoma.

鈥淚 anticipate that our board would like to grant them the application,鈥� Brian Shellem, the board chair, told 社区黑料. 鈥淏ut we can’t snub our nose at the court either.鈥�

He means the Oklahoma Supreme Court, which ruled against the nation鈥檚 first Catholic charter school in 2024. That decision still stands after the U.S. Supreme Court deadlocked over that case last year. The charter board鈥檚 likely denial of Ben Gamla鈥檚 application is expected to spark another lawsuit, pitting against those who say it would violate the Constitution’s prohibition on establishing a religion. With a case over a proposed Christian charter in Tennessee already in federal court and another religious school in Colorado founded to test the same legal question, there鈥檚 little doubt that the nation鈥檚 highest court will eventually settle the debate.

鈥淚t is hard for me to imagine the court doesn鈥檛 take the issue again when it comes to it,鈥� said Derek Black, a constitutional law professor at the University of South Carolina. But after Justice Amy Coney Barrett recused herself in the case over St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, resulting in the 4-4 tie, the justices likely in favor of religious charters, he said, 鈥渨ould want a case that was very strong.鈥�

鈥楶ray and hear Scripture鈥�

So far, the only case to watch is in Tennessee. Wilberforce Academy of Knoxville, a nonprofit that wants to open a K-8 Christian charter school, sued the Knox County school board because the district wouldn鈥檛 accept its letter of intent to apply. State law prohibits charter schools from being religious. 

鈥淪tudents will begin to develop biblical literacy in kindergarten and begin taking catechism lessons by third grade,鈥� according to Wilberforce Academy鈥檚 request for a quick ruling in the case. 鈥淎nd they will pray and hear Scripture together in a school assembly every morning.鈥�

As St. Isidore did before them, Wilberforce argues that the nonprofit is a 鈥減rivate actor鈥� and that approving its charter application would not turn it into a government entity.

The Knox County board told the court that it will 鈥渕ost likely鈥� not take a position on the legality of Wilberforce鈥檚 argument. On Thursday, the board rejected asking state education Commissioner Lizzette Reynolds to consider granting Wilberforce Academy a waiver so they can open the Christian school.

The Knox board, however, also said the issue of religious charter schools 鈥渄eserves a thorough examination by the federal courts.鈥� 

Judge Charles Atchley Jr, for the Eastern District of Tennessee, thinks so, too. Last week, he allowed a group of Knox County parents and religious leaders, who oppose Wilberforce鈥檚 application, . 

The case, he wrote, has the 鈥減otential to reshape First Amendment jurisprudence in the educational context鈥� and it wouldn鈥檛 serve the court or parties involved to not have 鈥渧igorous advocacy on both sides.鈥�

Amanda Collins, a retired Knox County school psychologist, is among those who have signed up to fight against Wilberforce Academy. She has two children still in the district and one who graduated in 2024. She grew concerned about Wilberforce Academy when she learned the organization didn鈥檛 have a history of operating charter schools in the state and feels its attorneys are using the district to 鈥渕erely force an issue up the ladder to the Supreme Court.鈥�

鈥淚n Tennessee, we have plenty of things that are underfunded,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e don’t need to be wasting our local Knox County taxpayer money on somebody’s agenda that is not intended to promote the education safety and wellness of our public school students.鈥� 

鈥楾he clear constitutional boundary鈥�

Another school that could spark a lawsuit over public funds for religious schools is Colorado鈥檚 , which advertises that it offers students a 鈥淐hristian foundation.鈥� 

The school operates 鈥減retty much just like a charter school鈥� said Ken Witt, executive director of Education reEnvisioned, the board of cooperative educational services, or BOCES, that contracted with the school. 

As , emails between the attorney for the Pueblo County district, which allowed the school to open within its boundaries, and the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative law firm, suggest the school was intentionally founded to test the legal argument over whether public schools can practice religion. 

After threatening to withhold state funds because of the school鈥檚 religious mission, the Colorado Department of Education funded Riverstone鈥檚 31 students. But the state is also conducting a , which could take another year, before deciding whether it can legally provide money to the school. In the meantime, Riverstone had to close its building last week because of health and safety violations. It鈥檚 unclear whether students are learning remotely or in another facility in the meantime.

For now, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, a Democrat running for governor, hasn鈥檛 issued an opinion on Riverstone, but his views on St. Isidore, the Oklahoma school, were clear. Last year, he in opposing state funding for the school.

In , he urged the Supreme Court 鈥渢o preserve the clear constitutional boundary that protects both religious liberty and the integrity of our public education system.鈥�

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, a Republican who is also running for governor, made a similar argument about St. Isidore before both the Oklahoma and U.S. supreme courts. 

But that鈥檚 where both he and Weiser split with the Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti. In his , Skrmetti states that categorically excluding faith-based schools from public charter programs violates parents鈥� rights to freely exercise their religion.

To Ilya Shapiro, director of constitutional studies at the conservative Manhattan Institute, it鈥檚 a matter of equity. Higher-income families can move into wealthier neighborhoods or pay private school tuition, he wrote in a on the Wilberforce case. The state, he added, already funds religious schools through education savings accounts. 

鈥淏ut families who rely on charter schools are told that their options must be secular,鈥� he wrote. 

Black, with the University of South Carolina, said the issue comes down to who authorized the school to begin with. In both Oklahoma and Tennessee, either local or state boards approve charter applications.

鈥淭hat explicit state involvement, to me, makes it clear that state action is involved,鈥� he said, 鈥渁nd thus the Establishment Clause applies.鈥�

New Jersey鈥檚 education department approved the renewal of five charter schools in Newark and the expansion of two schools, but denied an enrollment expansion for KIPP TEAM Academy in the South Ward after the city鈥檚 public school district raised objections.

Kevin Dehmer, the state鈥檚 education commissioner, renewed Great Oaks Legacy, LEAD, Robert Treat Academy, North Star Academy, and TEAM Academy charter schools to operate for the next five years, through Jan. 30, 2031, according to charter school decision letters obtained by Chalkbeat from the state education department.

Robert Treat Academy, with campuses in the North and Central wards, and North Star Academy, part of the Uncommon Schools network across Newark, received approval to boost their enrollment by the 2030-31 school year, but the state blocked TEAM Academy鈥檚 request to add just over 1,000 seats by 2030-31.

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Kevin Dehmer, the state鈥檚 education commissioner, sent charter school decision letters on Jan. 16, before Gov. Mikie Sherrill was sworn in. The letters were sent to schools statewide that sought renewals or amendments to their charter agreements, including requests to renew charter applications, add a grade level, or increase seats. The education department evaluates requests by reviewing a charter school鈥檚 academic, operational, and fiscal standing, outlined by state guidelines.

State laws allow charter schools to be renewed for a maximum of five years, but signed this month, the education commissioner can grant 10-year renewals to charter schools that meet high-performing standards.

This year, 22 charter school requests were approved statewide, including the five in Newark. New Jersey renewed charter agreements for schools in Jersey City, Paterson, Hoboken, and Camden, and denied the expansion of Thomas Edison EnergySmart School in Somerset. Overall, nine charter school enrollment expansions were approved across the state.

The decisions charter school determinations made under former Gov. Phil Murphy to approve charter schools and deny expansions. Sherrill has not explicitly stated her plans for charter schools in New Jersey, but during , she generally opposed expanding school choice through vouchers or new charter schools. She has said she would support expanding the state鈥檚 program.

Newark Public Schools Superintendent Roger Leon asked the state to renew TEAM Academy鈥檚 charter without an enrollment expansion, citing the 鈥渇iscal impact鈥� on the district, according to the state letter. Leon alleged that 鈥渢he school does not enroll a proportional share of multilingual learners and students with disabilities,鈥� according to a letter he submitted.

Leon also opposed expansions for North Star Academy and Robert Treat Academy, citing the same reasons.

The charter school decisions come as Leon continues to reclaim Newark public school buildings lost under the state鈥檚 25-year takeover of the district. He has vowed to slow the spread of charter schools in the city. In 2024, the district that forced People鈥檚 Preparatory Charter School out of the Bard Early College High School. with Achieve Community Charter School to create a new K-12 school called BRICK Gateway Academy.

Newark Public Schools opposes charter school expansion

Founded in 2002, TEAM Academy was the first school operated by KIPP, a national charter network, in Newark. The school enrolls grades five through eight and requested to expand enrollment from 7,920 seats to 9,010 seats by the 2030-31 school year, according to its state decision letter this year.

After reviewing the school鈥檚 academic, organizational, and financial performance, the state found that TEAM Academy partially met standards in board capacity, school climate and culture, and access and equity. According to annual reports submitted to the state, the charter school board had not conducted formal evaluations. The board is expected to complete them during the next five years, according to the state letter.

The school also reported a 17% out-of-school suspension rate for school years 2021-22 through 2023-24, during which several kindergarten through second grade students received out-of-school suspension each year, the state letter read.

State officials said the high number of suspensions created 鈥渟ignificant concerns鈥� in the school鈥檚 ability to adhere to state law, which restricts out-of-school suspensions for those grade levels, TEAM Academy鈥檚 decision letter stated.

But the state found the charter school met standards in educating students with disabilities and multilingual learners, contradicting Leon鈥檚 allegations. TEAM Academy has roughly 939 students with Individualized Education Programs, with an average of 80 to 90 students with existing IEPs or Section 504 Plans enrolled annually, according to the state letter.

John Abeigon, the president of the Newark Teachers Union, the American Federation of Teachers, and the City Association of Supervisors and Administrators, among other unions and groups, also submitted comments opposing TEAM Academy鈥檚 enrollment expansion.

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, along with council members Patrick Council and Anibal Ramos, submitted comments in support of TEAM Academy, expressing support for the charter renewal due to the school鈥檚 鈥渟trong academic record and the educational choice it provides to the Newark community,鈥� according to the state letter.

By the 2030-31 school year, Robert Treat Academy will expand from 860 seats to 1,620 seats, while North Star Academy, with schools in the Central and West Wards, will boost enrollment from 7,792 seats to 8,556 seats after receiving approval this year.

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools. This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at .

Correction appended Jan. 29

When 社区黑料 started looking for Bright Spots 鈥� public schools that are beating the odds  helping low-income students learn to read 鈥� it was hard to miss how well charter schools performed. Charters made up 7% of the elementary schools in our national sample but 11% of those that we identified as delivering exceptional results, with reading scores that far exceed what might be expected given the poverty rates of the populations they serve.

Charters were even more overrepresented in New York. There, charter schools made up 9.5% of the state sample, but they earned 38.5% of the spots on our list of exemplars. 

By our metric, the 10 highest-scoring schools in the state were all in New York City 鈥� and seven of them were charter schools located in the Bronx. Another was a charter school in Harlem, and the other two were traditional public schools in Brooklyn.

Click on the yellow dots to see the details for each Bright Spot school. Click anywhere in the map to close the data box. (Map: Eamonn Fitzmaurice/The74)

All serve a high concentration of low-income students, with 66% to 92% of children qualifying for free- or reduced-price lunch. And yet, 90% to 97% of their third graders were proficient readers in 2024, the year of our analysis. In comparison, the proficiency rate for all third graders across the state was just 43%. 

The highest-scoring school by our metric was the Success Academy Bronx 5 Upper Elementary School. In 2024, despite a 90% poverty rate, 94% of its students scored proficient in third grade reading. In , its students did even better, with 96% scoring proficient in reading and 100% doing so in math.

In fact, Success Academy has 21 of its schools on our Bright Spots list. The Icahn charter network has five, South Bronx Classical has three and the KIPP, Zeta and Harlem Village Academy networks have two each.

But even beyond charters, it is clear that families with young children in New York City in particular are blessed with a variety of good options. Of the 143 exceptional schools across the state, 97% 鈥� 138 鈥� are in the city, and 84 of those are traditional district schools. 

As one example, in 2024, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis elementary (PS 66) had 81% of its students qualify for free- or reduced-price lunch, yet 84% of its third graders read proficiently. It also did even better in , with 71% of students with disabilities, 84% of Hispanic students and 87% of all students scoring proficiently. These rates all far surpassed the statewide average.

These stats may be heartening, but New York City might soon be able to provide even better options for families.

As a district, the city is in the midst of sweeping changes to how literacy is taught. That initiative, called , requires schools to use one of three phonics-based reading programs with a track record of producing student gains. As that program continues to roll out, participating schools saw last year, and incoming Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels to double down and make teaching vulnerable students how to read his 鈥淣o. 1 goal.鈥�

These are promising signs of progress. On the charter school front, it bears noting that there鈥檚 a on how many can operate in New York City, and as the maximum has already been reached, no new ones can open until that cap is lifted. According to the advocacy group StudentsFirstNY, New York City students are on charter wait lists. New Mayor Zohran Mamdani has charter schools’ expansion in the past, but he may need to reconsider, given their prominence among the ranks of Bright Spot schools.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misidentified one of the charter school networks with schools on our Bright Spots list. The networks are Success Academy, Icahn, South Bronx Classical, KIPP, Zeta and Harlem Village Academy.

The , published Jan. 13 from the , analyzed records from more than 1.7 million Michigan K-8 students who switched from a district to a charter school between 2013 and 2018. 

The nonprofit concluded that while students with disabilities spent more time in general-education classrooms and received less intensive services than their peers in traditional public schools, their standardized test scores increased along with those of their classmates who didn鈥檛 qualify for special ed.

Charter enrollment for students with disabilities has historically trailed behind that of public schools. While parents sometimes charter schools after poor experiences with traditional districts, charters also have a regarding special education. One found that charter schools may discourage parents from enrolling their children with disabilities because of concerns about how special education students impact overall academic performance and budgets.

But the results in Michigan show that children who receive special education services do well academically with fewer supports when they enter charter schools, 鈥渟uggesting charters may have adopted, identified and developed approaches to teaching students with disabilities that warrant further study,鈥� the research says.

鈥淐harter schools can be a useful educational tool for parents with students with disabilities,鈥� said Scott Imberman, one of the study鈥檚 authors. 鈥淭hey shouldn’t be quick to rule it out, because it does seem that, for at least a substantial segment of disabled students, charter schools are helpful for them 鈥� at least for their academic performance.鈥�

The study found that math and reading test scores improved for both special education and general education students for at least two years after they enrolled in a charter school. Absence rates also decreased.

These findings match a in Boston, which revealed that children with disabilities who were accepted at a charter school through a lottery system were more likely to meet college-ready benchmarks than special education students in traditional public schools.

Imberman said that because children with complicated special education needs tend not to enroll in charter schools, the study’s results suggest students with less severe disabilities can thrive alongside the general-education population.

The study used students’ individualized education plans to see how special education services changed after enrollment in a charter school. Before switching, all students spent an average of 2.3% of their school day in a special education setting. The rate dropped to 1.2% immediately after entering a charter school but rebounded to pre-charter levels by the third year of enrollment.

Identification rates for special education students also mostly stayed the same 鈥� around 14.5% 鈥� when students switched, but then gradually increased. Two to three years after charter school enrollment, special education identification rates increased 1 to 2 percentage points.

The study also analyzed the use of resource and cognitive programs, two areas of special education services that are tailored to specific student needs. Resource programs often provide services to students who spend most of their school day in a general education classroom, while cognitive programs include more costly and intensive therapies, and students usually work with a designated special education instructor, according to the study. 

Once Michigan students with IEPs switched from a traditional public school to a charter, participation in resource programs increased by 4 percentage points, while cognitive programming decreased by 5 points.

A key limitation of the study is that the research only shows what was written in students鈥� IEPs and what changed post-enrollment in a charter. It does not reveal whether the school actually followed through with required services. 

鈥淥ur data also does not reflect the perspectives of students and families,鈥� the study said. 鈥淚t is essential that students with disabilities are included in future research on school choice to understand whether their needs are being met in different choice contexts.鈥�

Recently, charter schools in and were found to have violated special education laws, and one in suspended students with disabilities at three times the state average.

Imberman said many charter schools aren鈥檛 set up to effectively serve some special education students, especially those with severe disabilities that require costly therapies and assistance.

鈥淭his is a large concern in the back and forth with traditional schools and charter schools, particularly when it comes to students with disabilities 鈥� that even if students with disabilities are entering charters, the ones who are most expensive are the ones who remain in the traditional public schools,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat creates a disproportionate burden on the traditional public schools.鈥�

Rather than treating district buildings as contested territory, communities, districts and charter operators should view underused public space as an opportunity to expand access for students and make better use of the public鈥檚 investment in education infrastructure.

Experience from across the country shows that, even in a state at the forefront of education choice like Florida, legal frameworks aren鈥檛 enough to guarantee the equitable use of public resources. Charters鈥� access to public facilities also depends on local solutions and genuine collaboration between districts and charters.

In a co-authored by our organizations, the Florida Charter Institute and Momentum Strategy & Research, we analyzed 20 Florida counties that contain 90% of the state鈥檚 charter schools. Our findings show that enrollment in traditional district schools has steadily declined throughout the past decade, leaving over 645,000 seats available in district facilities. Charter school enrollment, meanwhile, has grown by more than 136,000 students over the same period.聽

We estimate that 12% of all district facilities currently have the space available to house an average-sized Florida charter school. In fact, while falling student enrollment is a growing financial problem for Florida鈥檚 school districts, our research shows that the number of district-operated buildings slightly increased across the state during this period. 

Publicly available data shows that newly opened charter schools in Florida spend nearly one-quarter of their annual budget acquiring and maintaining suitable facilities. The state provides limited facility funding to defray capital expenses, but that covers only a portion of what charters pay toward their buildings. As a result, Florida charter schools rely on an industry of building developers, landlords and lenders, often placing them in commercial spaces that don鈥檛 meet students鈥� needs 鈥� even as hundreds of district facilities operate under capacity. 

We recently surveyed over 100 charter school leaders in Florida. Their responses indicate a growing need for solutions to the state鈥檚 facilities problem: 76% said their school was at or near enrollment capacity, and 52% responded they are exploring or planning to grow beyond their current facility. 鈥淔acility issues are the number one issue facing our ability to maintain or expand,鈥� said one charter school leader in Naples, while an Orlando-based charter school referred to facilities funding as its 鈥渕ain source of concern.鈥�

However, charters don’t appear to view district space as an option, as only 18% of survey respondents reported ever exploring the availability of underutilized district space. Those who do are met with resistance: The same Naples-based school noted that there was available capacity in nearby district schools but that 鈥渄istrict leadership seems closed to the idea.鈥� A charter leader in Miami commented that the district is 鈥渧ery averse鈥� to facilities arrangements with charters. In fact, while Florida鈥檚 charter schools account for 14% of all public school enrollment in the state, only 4% operate in district-owned buildings.

Florida law lacks enforcement mechanisms that would obligate districts to share space with charter schools, instead provide 鈥渟urplus鈥� or 鈥渦nused鈥� facility space for charters 鈥渙n the same basis as it is made available to other public schools in the district.鈥� Research shows that, across the country, laws intended to expand charter access to district facilities often due to similarly vague language.

This year, Florida鈥檚 legislature partially addressed the issue through a measure that allows specially designated, high-performing charter schools to . However, the new law provides virtually no incentives for districts and no process to resolve disputes with charters or among competing charter operators. Districts are as the law goes into effect.聽

Shared facilities arrangements between districts and charters require more than legal nudges from the state. Several cities, in fact, have demonstrated that such partnerships can effectively support resource-starved public schools. In New York City, for example, then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his first chancellor, Joel Klein, promoted co-location to encourage charter growth, guided by the premise that available public school space should . Close to half of New York City charters now operate out of district buildings, and suggests that these arrangements have not negatively impacted student performance.聽

In San Diego, the citywide school district established a to support the planning and placement of charters in district facilities. In Washington, D.C., the city developed a successful to house new charters. In Indiana, the 2014 establishment of allowed districts to attract independently run schools, including charters, and promoted facilities sharing. More recently, the Indiana state legislature has pushed Indianapolis to share facilities and buses among charter and district schools.聽

Starting in 2008, Denver Public Schools leadership pursued a strategy that encouraged charter growth by sharing the district鈥檚 underutilized facilities. By 2017, the district had more charter and 鈥渋nnovation鈥� schools 鈥� district-run schools that are afforded increased autonomy 鈥�, a strategy that led to 鈥渟ignificant, sustained, systemwide improvements in learning.鈥�

While our research revealed untapped opportunity in sharing school facilities, public data does not tell the whole story of whether a given building is suitable for a specific charter 鈥� making local agency even more necessary for working out where these opportunities lie.National charter leader Nelson Smith once school districts鈥� 鈥渕onopoly鈥� over public school facilities as 鈥渁n accident of history.鈥� In states like Florida, where charter schools are an enduring part of public education, sharing unused district space with charters is an untapped opportunity, but weak laws and local obstinacy remain obstacles. Stronger legal mechanisms from the state can open the door for change, but it is up to local leadership to implement those changes and, ultimately, rethink how we manage the public schoolhouse.

In 1971, Derrick Bell became the first Black man to be awarded tenure at Harvard Law School. As part of his teaching load, he developed a civil rights course that focused on race. In order to meet its topical requirements, Bell wrote an accompanying textbook, , which is foundational in critical race theory. It holds that racism is an ordinary and permanent feature of American society. His claim was viewed by many colleagues at the time as a radical statement, and it remains so for many today. Yet, it carries forward a certain truth that the history of school choice persuasively illustrates.

Having served as a federal attorney litigating desegregation cases, Bell had grown skeptical about forced racial integration and whether it would actually improve student learning. The original edition of his 1973 textbook included a chapter outlining 鈥淎lternatives to Integrated Schools鈥� by which 鈥渂lack children might receive the long-promised equal educational opportunity 鈥� in predominantly black schools.鈥� The chapter included a discussion of tuition vouchers.

Bell argued that for vouchers to work, poor families would need to receive substantially larger grants than the more fortunate. He also mentioned 鈥渇ree schools.鈥� These were small, private institutions in poor areas supported by foundation grants, fundraising and, sometimes, public dollars. Tuition was charged on a sliding scale, and students whose parents could not pay attended for free. Many of these schools began 鈥渄eep in the black community.鈥� For example, Bell mentioned a system of schools operated by the Black Muslims that emphasized racial pride, self-discipline and self鈥搒ufficiency. He explained that such virtues are not commonly celebrated in the neighborhood public schools Black students attended. He pointed out that students at the Muslim schools performed several grade levels above most Black teenagers who attended public schools. 

Bell saw school choice as the culmination of a series of disappointments in the fight for educational equality. He understood it as a dramatic manifestation of the ways the Black community was losing confidence in its public schools. After numerous false starts to achieve desegregation and equalized funding, many Black activists turned to demands for community control. In 1968, a group of local parents and residents in Brooklyn鈥檚 Ocean Hill-Brownsville neighborhood wrested local control of their school board. When a similar eruption took place in Milwaukee in 1988, those involved issued a call to action 鈥� commonly referred to as the 鈥� demanding that the state allow them to establish an independent school district. 

To lend a helping hand, Bell traveled to Milwaukee and wrote an op-ed for the Milwaukee Journal. Published under the headline 鈥淐ontrol Not Color: The Real Issue in the Milwaukee Manifesto,鈥� it took issue with the better-off liberal activists who condemned the plan. 鈥淐an we whose children are not required to attend the inner-city schools honestly condemn the Manifesto writers and their supporters?鈥� Bell wrote. 鈥淎fter all, when middle-class parents 鈥� black and white 鈥� lose faith in the administration of a public school, we move to another school district or place our children in private schools. Inner-city black parents who can鈥檛 afford our options seek as a group a legislative remedy that may after a long struggle enable them to do what we achieve independently by virtue of our higher economic status.鈥� 

Soon after, in 1990, the same Black activists in Milwaukee joined forces with their white Republican governor, Tommy Thompson, and his conservative legislative colleagues to pass the nation鈥檚 first school voucher law. The original Wisconsin vouchers were targeted at low-income students stuck in chronically failing public schools. Five years later, Wisconsin became the first state to expand its voucher program to include religious schools.

Bell revisited the topic of school choice in (2004). By then, vouchers had been adopted in Cleveland and Washington, D.C., among other places. He acknowledged that vouchers were 鈥減robably the most controversial of educational alternatives to emerge in the last decade,鈥� but that they were also growing in popularity. He understood that many opponents were liberal Democrats with long histories of civil rights activism. These critics alleged that minority parents were being duped, that the real beneficiaries of such programs were private religious schools gaining enrollment. 

Bell recognized these criticisms but was also sympathetic to arguments by free-market advocates who believed that the competition fostered by choice would incentivize floundering public schools in Black communities to improve. He did not deny that the Catholic Church had become a major player in the choice movement to address its own declining school enrollments. But Bell was more impressed with how many Black and Hispanic parents chose Catholic schools over public schools because of their more disciplined learning environments and better academic outcomes. He cited one particular Catholic school in Milwaukee, where 80% of the students were not Catholic and the voucher covered most of the tuition.

Silent Covenants also delves into the topic of charter schools. Bell lauded them as innovative institutions that give options to all students, not just the wealthy who can afford private school tuition. He rejected claims by liberals that the institutions would become bastions for middle-class families who were better prepared to work the system, citing evidence that two-thirds of charter students nationwide were nonwhite and more than half were from low-income families. Critics had also raised concerns that charter schools would discriminate, become racially isolated and drain resources from regular public schools. Bell, unmoved by these claims, was more concerned that charters were receiving 15% less funding than other public schools.

Now, 30 years after the Milwaukee breakthrough, the school choice movement has taken off in a new direction. Republicans who once allied with Black advocates to demand better options for low-income students now rally behind appeals for universal choice, which provides such benefits to all students regardless of family income. Eighteen states have enacted such programs. When awards do not cover the entire cost of tuition, they end up subsidizing better-off families and neglecting those unable to make up the difference. As demands for private and religious schools grow, so does the competition for seats and the incentive to raise tuition. Yielding larger numbers of applications from a stronger pool of students, these initiatives can function more to enhance the choices available to school admissions officers than the most needy students.

A that President Donald Trump signed this year allows a tax deduction of up to $1,700 for anyone who donates to an organization that gives scholarships for students to attend private or religious schools. Like the state-level universal choice programs, the federal initiative does not target low-income students. Assistance will be available to any family whose income is below 300% of the average for their area.

Here is the underlying political irony to the choice debate: For years, when programs were designed to help the most vulnerable students, the major opponents were activists who historically have identified with progressive causes. Now, conservatives are spending with abandon 鈥� in many cases, with limited public accountability 鈥� on programs that can create opportunities for students who need them the least. In either case, those who get hurt remain the same, and they are disproportionately under-resourced students of color. Derrick Bell would not be surprised. 

In 1980, Bell wrote an for the Harvard Law Review advancing a concept referred to in the scholarly literature as the 鈥渋nterest convergence dilemma鈥� that is fundamental to critical race theory. It holds, 鈥淭he interest of blacks in achieving racial equality will be accommodated only when it converges with the interests of whites.鈥� Not very trusting of white collaborators hailing from either the left or right, it deems political alliances temporary and subject to the competing priorities of all pertinent parties, anticipating eventual abandonment. 

And so, that’s the way it is.

Those classes included three players who would shape the future of District of Columbia schools: Michelle Rhee (future D.C. chancellor), Kaya Henderson (Rhee鈥檚 successor) and, perhaps most importantly, Susan Schaeffler, 55, who is retiring after 25 years as the founder of the KIPP DC Public Schools charter network.

It was Schaeffler (pronounced SHEFF-ler) who proved with her 2001 launch of KIPP KEY Academy that hiring highly motivated and skilled teachers could make academic success stories out of high-poverty children with multiple at-risk flags. Six years later, standardized math and reading tests in grades 5-8 would show KIPP students outscoring their D.C. Public School peers, particularly in eighth grade and most strongly in math.

In a few years, Rhee would choose the same strategy, pushing hard on teacher quality. And Henderson would do the same.

It was Schaeffler who showed that her one school was not a fluke. By 2006, she ran three successful middle schools with long waiting lists: Today, there are 20 KIPP schools in D.C. that educate roughly 7,300 students, of whom nearly 70% meet the at-risk definition (students with families on income or food support and those who are wards of the state, homeless or overage in high school).

In the early KIPP years, veteran education reform expert Andrew Rotherham recalls leading a tour of mostly charter skeptics when they visited one of her schools. 鈥淪usan was giving a talk on how they do things and one guy thought he was really going to dunk on her, so he said: 鈥業 heard you talking about performance, fundraising and management, but I haven鈥檛 heard you talking about loving children.鈥欌��

That was a mistake. 

Schaeffler paused, looked at the guy, and as Rotherham recalls, firmly responded: “Let me tell you something. The way you show you love children isn’t talking about it. It’s building effective places for them to be and that means knowing how to raise money, deploy money, manage people, all of it. Doing things really well for them is how you show children you love them.”  

Don鈥檛 be thrown off by Schaeffler鈥檚 blonde suburban look: She鈥檚 got a very sharp edge, world-beating relentlessness and a mind that doesn鈥檛 shy away from the unconventional.

Shannon Hodge, who is taking over at KIPP DC鈥檚 helm, said before she met Schaeffler she asked around about her and was told: 鈥淵ou鈥檒l be in a meeting discussing something and Susan will have five ideas. Two of them will be illegal, two of them will be impossible 鈥� but the last one will be the visionary thing no one ever thought of.鈥�

Finally, it was Schaeffler and other charter operators. working with first Rhee and then Henderson, who forged the crucial compete-but-play-nice stance in D.C. that鈥檚 missing between charter and district schools in most cities.

All the experts agree: That competitive cooperation and the unwavering focus on teacher quality on both sides are the biggest reasons why D.C., across multiple school-quality measures, from the percentage of 3- and 4-years-olds enrolled in pre-K to fourth- and eighth-grade scores on the highly watched National Assessment of Educational Progress, shot  

鈥淧art of D.C.鈥檚 story is that it is one of the few places where the charter sector and the district came together and created a culture of putting kids first,鈥� KIPP national co-founder Dave Levin told me last week. 鈥淪usan modeled that from the start, pushing for things that were good for D.C. as a whole.鈥�

This strategy could have happened in other cities. But for the most part, it hasn鈥檛.

Teachers with 鈥榯he whatever-it-takes mindset鈥�

That Baltimore TFA experience was wild: Rhee and Schaeffler slamming into the brutal realities of urban teaching in Baltimore. It was from that time that I got the title for my book about Rhee, , after she swatted and swallowed a bee her kids were crazily chasing around the classroom.

After Baltimore, Schaeffler gave teaching in a traditional D.C. elementary school a try, but her desire to give her students the option of staying longer than the dismissal bell to allow them to catch up ran into a stone wall. It worked for a bit, but not for long. We just don鈥檛 do that here, she was told.

鈥淚 got to the point where the system was preventing me from doing what I knew needed to happen to make sure our kids are ready for college, or ready for the next grade,鈥� Schaeffler told me in a recent interview.

The KIPP founders in Texas heard about her, sent plane tickets to come to Houston and convinced her to start a KIPP school. Their preference, Atlanta, got rejected by Schaeffler. D.C. is home, she said, and being able to tap into the talent network she knew there was crucial.

The founders relented, and soon Schaeffler was recruiting the handful of teachers who would launch KEY Academy. 鈥淚 definitely wanted to recruit teachers who had the whatever-it-takes mindset. We were going to be creating and implementing and revising all at the same time.鈥�

Schaeffler looked to the Teach for America network and then expanded by interviewing friends of friends. 鈥漎ou would say, 鈥業 need a teacher who can work long hours, has great classroom management and gets results.鈥� Before hiring anyone, she observed them in the classroom.

It would appear Schaeffer recruited well. Among that first small group of hires for KIPP KEY were several who in the future would launch their own new KIPP schools. 

鈥楾he school down the street is outperforming us鈥�

Now entering the D.C. picture in 2007 was newly appointed Chancellor Rhee, who took note of the rising quality challenge presented by Schaeffler’s KIPP network and other charter operators and stomped the accelerator on school improvement. And by school improvement I mean teacher/principal quality.

Rhee took over a bona fide mess of a school district, one that regularly was described 鈥� 鈥� unchallenged 鈥� as the worst (and most expensive) in the nation. In my book, the chapter where I recite the dismal outcome data for D.C. students is titled, 鈥淲elcome to the Nation鈥檚 Education Superfund Site.鈥�

The city鈥檚 corrupt mayor, Marion Barry, used the district to stash political buddies. The former teachers union president got sent to jail for embezzlement. Even simple tasks such as delivering textbooks didn鈥檛 happen. There was no curriculum. In comparison to other urban districts, D.C. lagged far behind. 

Rhee moved into her role as chancellor with a bullrush, much to the distaste of many in Washington, especially teachers who preferred the status quo. Rhee told everyone that she wanted teachers with 鈥渟nap.鈥� Teachers soon learned what that meant: a mashup of energy and effectiveness that creates classroom magic.

That didn鈥檛 always go over well.

I accompanied Rhee on many school visits, and while sitting in the back of the room watched teachers dramatically roll their eyes in protest. Many teachers appeared to see their role as more social workers than academic instructors, which probably explained the abysmal test scores.

One elementary school had this sign posted: 鈥淲e鈥檙e doing the best we can with the children sent our way.鈥�

But Rhee鈥檚 vision was made easier to explain to others by the example Schaeffler set. 鈥淚n community meetings,鈥� Schaeffler told me, 鈥淚 heard Rhee say that the school down the street is outperforming us.鈥� And 鈥渢hat school鈥� was KEY Academy. 

In 2007, when Rhee arrived, 100% of KEY eighth graders scored proficient on D.C.鈥檚 standardized math test, compared to 34% of district students.

There鈥檚 another aspect to KEY鈥檚 success: When researching my book , I searched nationally for schools where boys were succeeding at the same rate as girls, and KEY turned up as one of the few where that happened. I approached Schaeffler in 2006 for permission to observe, and she gave me full access to KEY. In short, teacher quality (and a relentless push on literacy skills) explains the gender equality.

Thus began Rhee鈥檚 own full-on press for principal and teacher quality, a process that would lead to several hundred teachers getting fired along with lots of principals. Those firings, however, were accompanied by the newly designed IMPACT teacher evaluation system, a first-in-the-nation attempt to define, measure and boost teacher quality 鈥� a plan that handed out bonuses to the highest-performing teachers.

The reforms began to take hold, but Rhee鈥檚 fierceness why Adrian Fenty, the mayor who appointed her, lost reelection in 2010. The new mayor, Vincent Gray, quickly fired Rhee. 

But then something interesting happened: Not only did Gray promote Kaya Henderson, Rhee鈥檚 deputy, as the new chancellor, but IMPACT survived, despite intense teacher opposition (The American Federation of Teachers to ensure Rhee and IMPACT would disappear.)

Why did the new mayor allow Rhee鈥檚 reforms to survive? When the chancellor got fired, IMPACT was only about a year old, and thus too young to measure its effectiveness. But its potential was clear to everyone.

鈥淢y last major public event before I left DCPS was 鈥淪tanding Ovation鈥� which we held at the Kennedy Center to honor the highly effective teachers in the district,鈥� Rhee told me in a recent interview, referring to the first group of top teachers identified by the evaluations. 鈥淲atching a bevy of teachers dressed to the nines, giddy at the recognition they were receiving, made me know what we put in place with IMPACT was working and made everything worthwhile.鈥�

That meant that the twinned philosophies of pushing teacher quality and collaborating with the charters, pioneered by Schaeffler, became permanent fixtures in D.C. One prominent example: , launched in 2017, an application/lottery system shared by parents seeking seats in either system.

There was also the leadership training program for both charter and district teachers at Georgetown University. Schaeffler鈥檚 top example: During the pandemic, everyone on both sides held hands to figure out how to teach remotely and when to return to school.

Finally, the D.C. mayors have a great incentive to make sure the two sides work together. 鈥淲e can’t have half the kids not be successful,鈥� says Schaeffler.

Two leaders who quickly bonded

Fervent D.C. school advocates at the polar opposites hate the suggestion that D.C. charters and district schools get along. They see great injustices aimed at their side. What they miss, however, is that their quibbles pale compared to the destructive hatred between the two sectors in other cities. 

Boston has some of the highest-performing charters in the country (see Edward Brooke Charter Schools), and yet the state鈥檚 powerful teachers unions ensure that those charters can鈥檛 expand to take in more students. In Los Angeles, charter leaders and district leaders talk to one another mostly through lawyers in courtrooms. 

New York City and Newark are home to what may be the nation鈥檚 most successful charter network, Uncommon Schools, that pulls disadvantaged minority students into its classrooms, who then experience college acceptance and college graduation rates close to well-off white students.

How could any district not want to tap into that expertise?

Years ago, I sat through some small-scale Uncommon collaborations in New York and Newark, which seemed promising. But those have disappeared 鈥� no teaching collaborations in New York since 2020. 

There is no way Rhee and Schaeffler would have let that opportunity slide by.

When Rhee arrived in D.C., the two leaders bonded quickly. Rhee told me she had been on the job only a couple of days when she took an urgent call from Schaeffler: 鈥淲e鈥檙e starting a summer school (in a district building) and it鈥檚 90 degrees and we have no air conditioning!鈥�

Rhee immediately called maintenance, sent them hustling over to the summer school site and got the AC working. The next day Schaeffler called back incredulously. 鈥淗oly crap, they came out and fixed it.鈥�

Rhee knew KIPP ran quality schools, so she never fought against them.

 鈥淚 was open to giving charters our buildings,鈥� Rhee said. 鈥淲hy would we deny families of Wards 7 and 8 (D.C. ‘s highest-poverty) schools like [the ones] KIPP runs? Everyone would want to send their kids there.鈥�

Rhee鈥檚 memories of Schaeffler? 鈥淭hroughout the time she was so helpful, so supportive.鈥�

School choice now part of D.C.鈥檚 DNA

Today, D.C., parents embrace school choice as an unquestioned right, whether it鈥檚 choosing a charter or a non-neighborhood district school. Only about a third of D.C. parents select their neighborhood school. What that means is that choice is embedded, with schools vying to outperform and, therefore, attract students. 

In the mostly white, highly affluent 3rd Ward, there are no charters and parents send their kids either to local elementary schools, where they are surrounded by other children from well-off families, or private schools. In the 7th and 8th Wards, charters are the go-to places. Where it gets interesting are the rapidly gentrifying in-between wards, where charters often get selected by well-off 鈥減rogressive鈥� families, many of whom may frown upon charters as a concept, but love having a close-by high-quality school.

Overall, s, or about 48% of all D.C. students, attend its 133 public charter schools. D.C鈥檚 gentrification may explain why district students now outperform charter students in both math and reading (45% of district students are at-risk, compared to 69% of charter students).

鈥淐ompetition between sectors is healthy,鈥� said Schaeffer. 鈥淚t pushes both sectors to get better for students. Over the last two and a half decades, that dynamic has raised the bar across the city. As the city has changed, so have the needs of our students.鈥�

KIPP and other charters are still struggling to raise scores, she said. 鈥淎t the same time, the long-term outcomes tell an important story and remain strong. Year after year, our graduates enroll in and complete college at higher rates than the city 鈥� The forward momentum between the traditional and charter schools is promising and should be celebrated. Both sides are seeking the best ways to educate and prepare our students for success.鈥�

Where next for Schaeffler?

 鈥淚 haven鈥檛 looked around in 25 years to see what鈥檚 out there for me. I am energized to find my next thing but my priority is a successful transition. I will be transitioning from CEO in February to a special advisor role. I will always be a cheerleader for the amazing staff and students at KIPP DC.鈥�

The bottom line remains: worst to most improved. Twenty years ago, no one could have foreseen this outcome. This could have happened in cities such as L.A., but it hasn鈥檛 鈥� and doesn鈥檛 appear to be in their future.

鈥业尘辞苍尘测飞补测鈥�

When Scott Pearson took over the D.C. charter board in 2011, and became KIPP鈥檚 overseer, he recalls visiting Schaeffler at her office and finding her and KIPP DC President Allison Fansler sharing an office.

 鈥淢any great charters are like great British rock and roll bands. They always had two key people, and it was the genius between the two that made the band great,鈥� he said. 鈥淗ere you had the CEO of a multimillion-dollar organization and she shared an office. It wasn鈥檛 five minutes that went by that they didn鈥檛 talk to one another. Constant interaction.鈥�

Fansler shared an office with Schaeffler for 16 years. Whenever a call came in about a problem at a school site, Fansler said Schaeffler would immediately grab her coat and head out. The two of them, no matter which bolted for the door, shared a text code for that: Imonmyway.

Deputy Mayor Paul Kihn said when he sees his cell phone light up with Schaeffler鈥檚 name, 鈥淚 know I am going to get an earful on behalf of her students. She is going to tell me the real story about how something is working and what I need to do to fix it. I am incredibly sorry to see her go.鈥�

Of all the reformers who helped with D.C.鈥檚 recovery, Rhee and Schaeffler probably qualify as the fiercest. As Kihn puts it, 鈥淪usan is a force of nature.鈥�

All you need is the patience to wait for that fifth idea to pop up.

Disclosure: Andrew Rotherham sits on 社区黑料鈥檚 board of directors. He played no role in the reporting or editing of this article.

A panel ordered by the state legislature is hurrying to recommend by the end of December how the Indianapolis Public Schools and charter schools could work together to make busing and unused school space open to charters.

It’s the latest battleground in the decades-long fight between charter schools and school districts nationally over who has control of schools and the tax money that supports them. In Indiana, where state leaders strongly support school choice, power has shifted more and more to charters, which now educate more than half of Indianapolis students.

The panel won鈥檛 make its final recommendations until Dec. 17, but is leaning toward creating a new governing body to oversee sharing of schools and buses. Last week the panel narrowed its debate to two approaches, both of which give more power to charters and take it from the district’s elected school board.

The first would create a “collaborative compact advisory board鈥� of appointees from the district, mayor and charter schools. The second would create an Indianapolis Education Authority with a mayor-appointed board and new city secretary of education.

The panel鈥檚 vote to focus on these two options, rather than letting the district take the lead, drew boos from residents who want an elected board to make decisions, not an appointed one.

Despite the boos, there鈥檚 strong support for expanded busing for charter school students in the city, where charters are not required to pay for buses, and usually don鈥檛, to save money for teachers and books. The panel, however, has already rejected offering buses to every student to attend any school, anywhere in the district they want, as too expensive, so there will be limits.

How many students will be affected also depends on another key issue to be resolved 鈥� whether all Indianapolis charters would have to opt into the new collective plan. Some of the proposals require participation and others don鈥檛, which looms as a potential fight as the plan is finalized. The Indianapolis Local Education Alliance will make final recommendations Dec. 17. 

Any new plan will likely need approval from a heavily Republican and pro-charter state legislature, whose leanings are a backdrop to the debate.

But though some shift of assets to charters is now all but certain, gains for those schools won鈥檛 come without strings. District schools and charter schools will have to give up some autonomy in return for a piece of the collective pie.

Scott Bess, founder of the successful Purdue Polytechnic charter high schools and of the Charter Innovation Center advocacy group, called that tradeoff a 鈥済rand bargain.鈥�

鈥淵ou’re going to have to have some standardization,鈥� said Bess, who鈥檚 watching the panel closely. 鈥淭hat’s the bargain.鈥�

Charter schools鈥� will likely have to adjust their daily schedules and yearly calendars to fit a broader busing plan that aligns vacation days and school opening and closing times so buses can take more than one load of students to school each day.

And charters that have built their own schools or leased them for years may have to turn those buildings and leases over to the new body, which could then decide to close a school and give the building to another operator.

There鈥檚 also debate whether charter schools in the city should even have a choice to be part of a collective plan. Early indications are that the state legislature would not back requiring charter schools to join.

Indianapolis Public Schools Superintendent Aleesia Johnson told the panel last month that if the goal is to make sure all students have transportation, then schools shouldn鈥檛 be allowed to opt out.

鈥淚f schools are given the option not to participate, and enough schools don’t, then you don’t have a system anymore,鈥� she said.

Angela Smith-Jones, Indiana University鈥檚 associate vice president for state relations and a member of the panel, also called for mandatory participation for all charter schools.

鈥淭hen it’s really solving the problem,鈥� Smith-Jones said at the same meeting. 鈥淎ll schools are actually getting the exact same thing. Seems fair and equitable.鈥�

Bess,who鈥檚 also a member of the Indiana state school board and of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers, wants the panel and state to give schools a choice. He said school leaders are weighing, even as the plans are being developed, whether giving up control for more resources makes sense for them.

鈥淭he devil is clearly in the details,鈥� said Bess. With school buildings, Bess said, schools have to weigh their own budgets, building debt and repair needs against giving an asset to an outside authority that could delay building upgrades or even shut a school down.

鈥淟ocal property taxes (could pay) for all those improvements and maintenance and all the things that go with it,鈥� Bess said. 鈥淏ut with that comes this grand bargain that we have to perform academically to a standard that is accepted across the city.鈥�

鈥淎s I talk to a lot of charter school leaders, they’re looking at this saying, 鈥楳an, I don’t know that. I want to give up my full autonomy,'” he said.

Schools are also weighing whether a central, but more standardized busing schedule for all schools might mean giving up early dismissal days or other schedule differences.

鈥淪ome schools that I’ve talked to said 鈥楾hat’s not worth it to me,鈥� like 鈥業’ll walk away from the money, because my schedule and my autonomy on how I operate is really important to me鈥�,鈥� Bess said. 鈥淥ther schools said, 鈥極h, wow, you mean I could actually provide more transportation for more kids, and all I鈥檝e got to do is give up a little bit of my quirky schedule.鈥�”

Tommy Reddicks, CEO of the successful Paramount charter school chain, has opposed any changes to charter school autonomy, including demands from some residents that the state block new charters. He told the panel last week he also opposes forcing charters to be part of a transportation authority.

鈥淩equiring districts or agents to control charter transportation in any mandated form, strips operational independence,鈥� said Reddicks, whose schools do not provide buses to save money. 鈥淢andates that limit charter autonomy violate the very reason the (panel) was created.鈥�

But there鈥檚 a big financial incentive to join – a share of tax dollars the state legislature has already voted to give charters. The legislature voted this spring to give charter schools a share of local property taxes that have traditionally gone to districts starting in 2028, but some state officials have slated that money to go to the new collective busing and building effort 鈥� not to individual schools in addition to it.

That legislation, Senate Bill 1, would give charter schools $2,050 per student in local property taxes in 2028, rising to $3,750 per student by 2031.

鈥淚n Indianapolis, instead of having (property tax) transfers from IPS (the district) to the charters, that transfer is going to happen through the authority,鈥� said Indiana House Education Committee Chairman Robert Behning.

鈥�(If) you want to have access to that funding, then you need to participate in the authority,鈥� he added.

Behning said one limit the school district and some other advocacy groups have sought 鈥� limiting the number of authorizers that can approve new charter schools in the city 鈥� is unlikely to win support from the legislature.

Behning said he would never want only the city mayor鈥檚 office to authorize new schools because that would make the ability of new schools to open dependent on who wins the latest mayoral election. 

鈥淲hatever happens, we have to make sure that it can’t be changed by the next election,鈥� he said.

They were right.

In Tennessee, the nonprofit Wilberforce Academy is suing the Knox County Schools in federal court because the district refuses to allow a Christian charter school. Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti is on the school鈥檚 side. He issued last month that the state鈥檚 ban on religious charter schools likely violates the First Amendment. 

鈥淭ennessee鈥檚 public charter schools are not government entities for constitutional purposes and may assert free exercise rights,鈥� he wrote to Rep. Michele Carringer, the Knoxville Republican who requested the opinion. 

The legal challenge in Tennessee comes as a Florida-based charter school network prepares to submit an application to the Oklahoma Charter School Board for a Jewish virtual charter high school. Peter Deutsch, the former Democratic congressman who founded the Ben Gamla charter schools, began working on the idea long before the case over St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School even went to court. The 4-4 tie in May means that an Oklahoma Supreme Court decision blocking the school from receiving state funds still stands.聽

鈥淭he prior decision shows that there’s an open question here that needs to be resolved,鈥� said Eric Baxter, vice president and senior counsel at Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a law firm representing the National Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation. 鈥淲e hope the court will get it right this time. We hope the federal courts get it right without having to go to the Supreme Court.鈥�

Idaho also confronted the issue earlier this year. The state鈥檚 first charter, Brabeion Academy, initially the school as Christian. But it in August as a nonreligious school and will open as such next fall. 

Deutsch, Skrmetti and other supporters of faith-based charter schools base their argument on three earlier Supreme Court rulings allowing public funds to support sectarian schools. They say that excluding religious organizations from operating faith-based charter schools is discrimination and violates the Constitution. But leaders of the charter sector and public school advocates argue that classifying charter schools as private would threaten funding and civil rights protections for 3.7 million students nationwide.

鈥淯nless and until the U.S. Supreme Court takes up a future case and rules otherwise, we advise all charter school associations and public charter schools to adhere to the letter and spirit of the law in their respective states,鈥� Starlee Coleman, president and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, said in a statement.

鈥楴ot on our watch鈥�

When the Supreme Court considered St. Isidore, Deutsch, was prepared to advocate for Jewish congregations to open schools that not only teach their language, but also their faith. He called the case 鈥渁 historic opportunity鈥� to bring Jewish education to thousands of children.

To Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, the debate is settled, for now. In November, he said his office would 鈥渙ppose any attempts to undermine the rule of law.”聽

Americans United, which advocates for maintaining church-state separation, has also issued a warning over the new school. The organization represented parents and advocates in a separate case over the school. 

鈥淩eligious extremists once again are trying to undermine our country鈥檚 promise of church-state separation by forcing Oklahoma taxpayers to fund a religious public school. Not on our watch,鈥� Rachel Laser, president and CEO, said in a press release.

The legal fight over religious charter schools began in 2023, when the Oklahoma Virtual Charter School Board voted 3-2 to approve a charter for St. Isidore, setting off a closely watched case that spanned two years. At the time, the Jewish Federation of Greater Oklahoma City, a nonreligious group, called the charter board鈥檚 decision unconstitutional. Rachel Johnson, the group鈥檚 executive director, didn鈥檛 return calls or emails requesting a comment on Ben Gamla鈥檚 proposal.

None of the members who originally voted on St. Isidore serves on the state鈥檚 new Oklahoma Charter School Board. But for one person involved with Ben Gamla鈥檚 application, this is familiar territory. Brett Farley is on the proposed school鈥檚 board, according to a letter of intent the foundation submitted to the charter board in November.

Farley once held a top position with the and is also executive director of the Catholic Conference of Oklahoma, which focuses on public policy issues involving the church. While preparing the St. Isidore application, with Notre Dame law Professor Nicole Stelle Garnett, whose scholarly work formed the basis of the legal argument for the school.

骋补谤苍别迟迟鈥檚 is that nonprofits running charter schools are like private contractors, and as with other publicly funded programs, can鈥檛 be excluded just because they are religious. She鈥檚 also close friends with Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who recused herself from the St. Isidore case. Experts speculated that Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the three liberals on the court, resulting in the 4-4 tie.

鈥楶assion for religious freedom鈥�

The virtual school, the intent letter says, would initially enroll about 40 students, focusing on 鈥渃ollege readiness, while developing deep Jewish knowledge, faith and values within a supportive learning community.鈥�

But some are surprised Deutsch isn鈥檛 making his bid for a Jewish charter school in Florida, where his existing, non-religious charter schools have thrived.

鈥淚 think Florida could be a good option given the new attorney general鈥檚 passion for ,鈥� said Daniel Aqua, the director of special projects at Teach Coalition, a nonprofit that advocates for Jewish education

The demand for a Jewish charter school would be much higher in Florida, which has Jewish population of nearly 762,000, compared with about 9,000 in Oklahoma. 

Charter founders in Florida submit their applications to local school districts first. The state recently added as authorizers, but Oklahoma, where organizers directly with the state charter board, offers a more streamlined process. 

鈥楶ublic Christian school鈥�

But efforts to create publicly-funded religious schools are not limited to the charter sector. A new school in Colorado, Riverstone Academy, calls itself the state鈥檚 鈥渇irst public Christian school.鈥� Now serving 30 students in Pueblo, south of Colorado Springs, Riverstone is what is sometimes referred to as a 鈥渃ontract鈥� school because districts sign agreements with private organizations to provide education services. In this case, Education reEnvisioned, one of the state鈥檚 21 boards of cooperative educational services, or BOCES, authorized the school. 

In October, the Colorado Department of Education warned Ken Witt, the BOCES鈥� executive director, that the school鈥檚 per-student funding is at risk because it is 鈥渘ot operating in a nonsectarian nature.鈥� The letter also went to District 49, near Colorado Springs, one of Education reEnvisioned鈥檚 member districts. 

In a response, Witt wrote that he was 鈥渁larmed at the threat鈥� that the school might not receive funding. 鈥淲e did not and legally cannot discriminate against this school on account of its religious affiliation,鈥� he wrote. Examining Riverstone鈥檚 curriculum to determine if the school is truly sectarian, he said, would be 鈥渦nconstitutionally entangling and discriminatory against different forms of religion.鈥�

Witt told 社区黑料 that funding usually doesn鈥檛 flow from the state to a new school until January, so it鈥檚 too soon to know whether officials will withhold funds.

鈥楰eep coming back鈥� 

鈥淵ou’re going to see those within the charter sector and outside of it basically taking the same approach鈥� 鈥� arguing that private groups delivering religious instruction can鈥檛 be denied public funds, said Preston Green, an education professor at the University of Connecticut. 

To Green, Riverstone鈥檚 identity as a 鈥渃ontract鈥� school calls to mind a 1982 case, one that Garnett and other proponents of religious charter schools often highlight when they say that charters are not 鈥渟tate actors.鈥� In , the Supreme Court said a Massachusetts private school that received public funds for educating teens with behavior problems did not act under the 鈥渃olor of state law鈥� when it fired six employees. 

The question, experts say, is not if, but when the Supreme Court will eventually see another case about religious public schools Justice Barrett won鈥檛 have the same reason to recuse herself, Green said, and he鈥檚 not convinced that Roberts would side with the liberals a second time.

The advocates, he said, 鈥渒eep coming back at this because they think that they’ll get the votes.鈥�

Seldom listed among the nation鈥檚 top K鈥�12 performers or its most aggressive reformers, the Ocean State was nevertheless home to a relatively powerful school choice sector. According to the study, students at Rhode Island charters gained the equivalent of 90 extra days of learning in English, and 88 extra days in math, per year.

With the U.S. still groping its way back from massive pandemic-related learning loss, the New England-specific finding generated little focused attention either locally or nationally. But in October, CREDO released that suggests the impressive results may be rooted in the state鈥檚 approach to opening and evaluating charters.

Rhode Island鈥檚 charter regulations are 鈥渋nstrumental in driving鈥� student success, CREDO argues, pointing to a 2017 overhaul of accountability procedures that simplified the conditions for schools to be rated and renewed. According to interviews with over a dozen key figures from the charter world, the Rhode Island Department of Education, and the governor鈥檚 office, the change in law improved relationships between schools and state authorities and reduced uncertainty in how schools were assessed.

鈥淭here has been a change from chaotic beginnings to more structured, standardized practices,鈥� said Marzena Sasnal, the lead author of the report and a senior research associate at Stanford. 鈥淧articipants see this as an improvement.鈥�

Yet the local debate around school choice remains fractious, with charters often seen as competing with districts for students and education funding. Within the last few years, lawmakers considered enacting a moratorium on further charter growth, while leaders of the state鈥檚 largest district skeptical of charter expansion.

Justine Oliva, the director of research and policy at the nonpartisan , called the matter of charter schools in the state 鈥渃ontentious,鈥� particularly given in K鈥�12 enrollment since the disruptions of COVID-19.

鈥淲ith declining enrollment, I do think it’s likely that the issue continues to be a live one, particularly with the proposal for new charters moving forward.鈥�

Charter leaders 鈥榠n the dark鈥�

Rather than directly addressing the often-frayed politics of school choice, or even the inner workings of charters themselves, the CREDO report focuses on the more technical subject of charter school authorization 鈥� the process by which new schools are approved, kept open, or, if necessary, shuttered completely.

The state, which legalized charter schools in 1995, established a formal framework for evaluating them 15 years later. But according to the educators and bureaucrats who spoke with Sasnal, the flaws in that review mechanism led to low trust on both sides and a degree of unpredictability when the time came to decide whether schools would be allowed to continue operating. 

With renewal decisions spaced at intervals of five years, charter leaders told CREDO they often felt as though they were acting 鈥渋n the dark,鈥� without receiving timely feedback on their academic performance or organizational health. Even annual data from standardized tests didn鈥檛 give a clear picture of how schools would be judged, some complained.

鈥淭he criteria for renewal were so ambiguous and complicated,鈥� said Macke Raymond, CREDO鈥檚 director and a co-author of the report. 鈥淚t didn’t even matter what your state test scores were because you didn’t know what the authorizer’s standards of evaluation were going to be when you came up for renewal.鈥�

The atmosphere was clouded further by political and legal pressure that sometimes developed when regulators made their decisions. When Blackstone Valley Prep, one of the top-performing charter organizations in the state, was greenlit for renewal in 2011, several members of the Rhode Island Board of Education with connections to teachers鈥� unions . A few years later, three districts the opening of a new school, alleging that community opposition to the move had been ignored.

Following the 2017 reforms to the performance review system, however, CREDO鈥檚 interview subjects agreed that the steps to approval and renewal are more legible both to schools and community members. Charter applications are published online, and in communities from which students would likely be drawn. School officials said they had a clearer understanding of the outcomes they would be held responsible for, including both academic performance as well as financial and managerial indicators. One leader said his charter school had been able to identify problem areas early and 鈥減ut in place a corrective action plan.鈥�

Kenneth Wong, a professor of education policy at Brown University, said the updated framework played 鈥渁 key role鈥� in stoking improvement in the state charter sector.

鈥淭he review system integrates national standards, such as standards established by the , to sharpen the focus on performance-based accountability, data transparency, and quality monitoring.鈥�

Tensions remain

Still, whatever tensions have been alleviated by the revamped system of charter regulations have not dissipated completely.

Elections last year in Providence 鈥� by far the largest city and school district in the state 鈥� elevated three candidates endorsed by local teachers鈥� unions to the newly re-established school board; just one charter advocate won election. This summer, the city council appeared poised to permit the Excel Academy charter organization to obtain a lease on a shuttered district school, in the face of public outcry. It was the second year in a row that a version of the deal, brokered by Providence鈥檚 mayor, .

The back-and-forth follows a legislative push for a statewide moratorium on new charter growth that stalled in 2021. The state鈥檚 governor, Democrat Dan McKee, is a noted supporter of school choice currently seeking reelection. But , and the future direction of policy in the state is unclear. 

Representatives from both of Rhode Island鈥檚 major teachers鈥� unions declined to comment for this story.

Total charter enrollment in the state is comparatively high, with roughly 10 percent of all K鈥�12 students attending a charter school. Even beyond that figure, however, much of the demand from families is unmet: Nearly 30,000 students submitted applications for in the 2023鈥�24 school year. 

RIPEC鈥檚 Justine Oliva, pointing to on overall charter enrollment and performance in Rhode Island, called the schools 鈥渁 bright spot鈥� in the state education mix, overwhelmingly attracting students from disadvantaged communities and delivering significantly better academic results than the school districts they would otherwise attend. Children attending Achievement First charters 鈥� currently enrolling over 20 percent of all charter students in the state 鈥� were twice as likely to score proficient on state reading exams, and three times as likely on math exams, as those in their sending districts. 

鈥淣ot all charters have great outcomes,鈥� Oliva said. 鈥淭hey may still have a lot more applicants than get in, but they don’t all have great outcomes. However, our largest charters have outcomes that outperform the sending districts, as does the charter sector overall.” 

For , Lower Lab, an Upper East Side Gifted & Talented school was ranked number one by US News. Also in the top 10 were four citywide G&T programs. Each school exclusively accepts students who have been designated as 鈥済ifted.鈥�

Rounding out the top 10, however, are Success Academy 鈥� Bushwick and Success Academy 鈥� Bensonhurst, public charter schools that accept students by lottery, while also prioritizing English Language Learners (ELL).

On the surface, these schools couldn鈥檛 be more different. Number one, , has only 13% of students qualifying for Free or Reduced Price Lunch (FRL), and 1% ELLs. Number 10, , conversely,  has 65% of its students qualifying for free or reduced price lunch, and 26% who are English language learners. 

But the selective G&T schools and the unscreened charter schools have one characteristic in common: An expectation that their students can succeed.

The book, describes an experiment where 鈥渞esearchers falsely told teachers some of their students had been identified as potential high achievers. The students were in fact chosen at random.鈥�

At the end of the year, the 鈥渟tudents that were chosen were more likely to make larger gains in their academic performance,鈥� with those 鈥�7-8 years old gaining an average of 10 verbal IQ points.鈥�

This study concluded that 鈥渨hen teachers expected certain children would show greater intellectual development, those children did show greater intellectual development.鈥�

At the G&T schools, teachers have every reason to believe their students are capable of performing at the highest levels.

Parents have seen this firsthand.

鈥淚 strongly believe that when teachers are told their students are gifted, they begin to treat them as gifted 鈥� and this changes everything,鈥� asserts mom Natalya Tseytlin. 鈥淚n a gifted classroom, if a student struggles, teachers don鈥檛 assume it鈥檚 because of laziness or inability; they respond with patience and extra attention. In a regular class, that student might not receive the same support or challenge, because the teacher sees the child as average. 

Tseytlin said her son started his first grade gifted and talented program with limited English skills. But because his teacher offered consistent support and believed in him, he excelled. 

“Today he is performing at the same level as his peers,” she said.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 think the expectations at (my child鈥檚) G&T school are so high that only gifted kids can meet them,鈥� another parent, who only asked to be identified as M.K. opined. 鈥淩egular schools don鈥檛 鈥榩ush鈥� kids enough to reach their potential. Those G&T schools that do push, get results because most kids are capable of this level of learning without being 鈥榞ifted.鈥� If teachers treat students as capable, students will indeed meet expectations.鈥�

The belief that all students can perform at a 鈥済ifted鈥� level is sacrosanct at Success Academy.

“Success Academy is Gifted for All,鈥� CEO Eva Moskowitz affirms. 鈥淲hen adult expectations are high, our scholars 鈥� mostly low-income, Black and Hispanic 鈥� can meet the highest academic standards.鈥�

The same is true at Harlem Academy, a kindergarten through 8th grade private school for students whose potential might otherwise go unrealized. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 tough to decouple the influence of high-quality programming from high expectations,鈥� concedes Head of School Vinny Dotoli, 鈥渂ut authentically challenging students is central to the ethos of our school. When great teachers set ambitious goals and provide the structure and support to reach them, it almost always makes a lasting difference in student achievement.”

Parents with children in schools where high expectations aren鈥檛 the norm would love to see changes. 

鈥淚 have a daughter in a dual language program in East Harlem,鈥� Maria McCune relates. 鈥淎 neighbor who used to attend our school changed his daughter to a G&T program at another school in East Harlem. He immediately noticed a difference in the quality of instruction and in his daughter’s performance (MUCH improved). I participate in my daughter’s School Leadership Team and I have seen the apathy teachers there exhibit. It is concerning. When I tried to provide feedback about improving the educational experience, teachers/staff often became defensive. It is this that leads me to want to pursue G&T for my daughter.鈥�

For Tiffany Ma, the solution is obvious. 鈥淥ur second grader that transferred into G&T writes much neater and does her homework much more happily since she’s in an environment where academics and homework is valued by other classmates and parents. We should expand G&T programs. It鈥檚 regular programming that shouldn’t exist.鈥�

Yet New York City seems headed in the opposite direction. Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani has vowed to get rid of elementary school G&T programs  that begin in kindergarten. He would wait until students enter third grade, even though the research referenced above specifically mentioned children 7 and 8 years of age( i.e. second graders), as being the biggest beneficiaries of high expectations. , as well. 

This move would lower the academic standards and expectations of all schools, which deeply concerns parents like McCune. She fears 鈥淐hildren like my daughter may be left as collateral damage of an educational experience that falls short of setting them up for significant academic success.鈥�

The top schools in NYC have repeatedly demonstrated that high expectations are key to helping all students reach their full potential.

We need more such schools, be they public G&T, charter, or private. And more teachers who believe in all our kids.

Senate lawmakers on Monday advanced legislation that would launch the most comprehensive overhaul of New Jersey鈥檚 regulation of charter schools in 30 years.

advanced by the Senate Education Committee on Monday would outright ban for-profit charter schools, require them to post a range of documents online, and impose residency requirements for some charter school trustees.

鈥淲e have not looked at charter schools as a whole legislatively in this committee since the 1990s, so this is an opportunity where we鈥檙e trying to do that,鈥� said Sen. Vin Gopal (D-Monmouth), the panel鈥檚 chair and the bill鈥檚 prime sponsor.

The bill comes as New Jersey charter schools have faced scrutiny after reporting revealed top officials were paid at traditional public schools, including, among others, a Newark charter school CEO who was paid nearly $800,000 in 2024.

The proposal, which Gopal said was the product of a year of negotiations, would require charter schools to post user-friendly budgets that include the compensation paid to charter school leaders and school business administrators. They must also post existing contracts.

Charters would be required to post meeting notices, annual reports, board members鈥� identities, and facility locations online. Some critics have charged that charter schools routinely fail to provide notice of their public meetings.

The legislation would also require the state to create a dedicated charter school transparency website to host plain language budgets, 990 disclosure forms filed with the IRS, contracts with charter management organizations, and a list of charter schools on probation, among other things.

It would also ban fully virtual charter schools.

鈥淲e support the bills as a step forward in holding all public schools in our state accountable for fiscal and transparency requirements that will ultimately best serve our students,鈥� said Debbie Bradley, director of government relations for the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association.

The two sides remained at odds over the membership of charter school boards.

Charter critics argued residency for those positions 鈥� which, unlike traditional public school boards, are largely appointed rather than elected 鈥� should mirror those imposed on regular public schools.

In New Jersey, school board members must live in the district they serve. That鈥檚 not the case for charter schools, whose trustees face no residency or qualification limits under existing law.

The bill would only impose a residency requirement on one-third of a charter school鈥檚 trustees, and rather than forcing them to live in the district, the bill would require charter trustees to live in the school鈥檚 county or within 30 miles of the school.

That language was criticized by statewide teachers union the New Jersey Education Association, which has called existing law governing charter schools outdated and flawed.

鈥淪chool board representation should remain primarily local, and when we mean local, we don鈥檛 mean within a 30-mile radius. A 30-mile radius of Newark could include Maplewood, South Orange, communities that don鈥檛 necessarily represent what Newark looks like as a community,鈥� said Deb Cornavaca, the union鈥檚 director of government relations.

Charter school supporters said their boards need flexibility because their leadership has broader responsibilities than counterparts in traditional public schools.

鈥淩unning a charter is a little different than running a traditional district. You need experience in school finance. You need to fundraise a bunch of money on the front end because you鈥檙e not getting paid on the front end,鈥� said New Jersey Charter School Association President Harry Lee, adding they also needed familiarity with real estate and community experience.

Amendments removed provisions that would have required charter school board members to be approved by the state commissioner of education, though the commissioner retains sole power over whether to allow the formation of a new charter, a power that gives the commissioner some veto power over a charter鈥檚 board.

Gopal acknowledged the 30-mile residency rule was a sticking point and said legislators would discuss it before the measure comes before the Senate Budget Committee. Earlier, he warned the bill was likely to see more changes as it moved through the Legislature.

Some argued enrollment in charter schools should be more limited by geography, arguing that out-of-district enrollments that are common at New Jersey charters could place financial strain on the students鈥� former district.

Most per-pupil state and local funding follows students who enroll in charter schools, even if their departure does not actually decrease the original district鈥檚 expenses because, for example, those schools still require the same number of teachers and administrators.

Charter operators said that would make New Jersey a national outlier and argued that a separate provision that would bar new charter schools when there are empty seats in existing area charters should come out of the bill.

鈥淚t could be read as a moratorium on charters, so we want to revisit that provision,鈥� Lee said.

Such vacancies could exist for various reasons, they argued, including student age distributions.

Alongside that measure, the panel approved separate legislation that would bar charter schools from setting criteria to enroll students, ban them from imposing other requirements on a student randomly selected to attend, and place new limits on how such schools can enroll children from outside their district.

That bill would also bar charter schools from encouraging students to break with the district. Some opponents have charged that charter schools push out low-performing students to boost their metrics.

The committee approved the bills in unanimous votes, though Sens. Owen Henry (R-Ocean) and Kristin Corrado (R-Passaic) abstained from votes on both bills, saying they are broadly supportive but need more time to review amendments.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. New Jersey Monitor maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Terrence T. McDonald for questions: info@newjerseymonitor.com.

The U.S. Department of Education is expected to reopen for business Thursday after the in history. Education Secretary Linda McMahon is likely to pick up where she left off 43 days ago, reshaping the federal role in school policy and trying to phase out the agency.

The staff won鈥檛 be as small as the Trump administration had hoped. McMahon gutted the offices overseeing special education, K-12 and civil rights at the start of the shutdown, but a federal judge paused the job cuts and the reopening agreement in Congress . The deal to end the shutdown prohibits any additional terminations through Jan. 30, the next deadline for lawmakers to finalize the 2026 federal budget. 

Two more top officials will also soon join McMahon鈥檚 team. In October, the Senate confirmed Kimberly Richey to lead the Office for Civil Rights and Kirsten Baesler as assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education. Neither could be sworn in during the shutdown. 

Baesler, former North Dakota education chief, is likely to take the lead on considering waiver requests from Indiana and Iowa and managing other 鈥渁dministration-wide priorities, like moving away from 鈥楧EI鈥� and increasing the use of AI,鈥� said Julia Martin, director of policy and government affairs with The Bruman Group, a Washington law firm. 

and want the department to distribute federal funds as a block grant with fewer requirements on how to spend them. In September, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds pointed to an to make the case that states can be trusted to manage federal funds without the Education Department.

Margaret Buckton, a school finance expert and the executive director of the Urban Education Network in Iowa, generally supports the state鈥檚 plan. She explained that funding from one federal grant is often not 鈥渟ignificant enough to move the needle on school improvement.鈥�

But say that the Every Student Succeeds Act, which includes funding for high-poverty schools and several other targeted programs, already allows ample flexibility and warn that blending the money could mean districts won鈥檛 spend it the way Congress intended. 

Indiana also wants to change the way it grades school performance by highlighting qualities such as developing students鈥� work ethic and financial literacy. Anne Hyslop, director of policy development at All4Ed, an advocacy group, said the request is premature because the state is still on its new accountability plan. She questioned whether the new design would still include measures like graduation rates and progress for English learners. 

鈥淭here are particular accountability requirements that are really important,鈥� she said, 鈥渁nd have always been really important for the last 20-plus years.鈥� 

Here are a six other areas that were affected by the budget impasse.

1. Moving special education to HHS

In trying to fulfill her goal to eliminate the department, McMahon has taken steps to transfer oversight of special education programs to the Department of Health and Human Services despite having no authorization from Congress and strong opposition from advocacy groups. 

鈥淭he department is exploring additional partnerships with federal agencies to support special education programs without any interruption or impact on students with disabilities, but no agreement has been signed,鈥� spokeswoman Madi Biedermann said in an Oct. 21 statement. 鈥淪ecretary McMahon is fully committed to protecting the federal funding streams that support our nation’s students with disabilities.”

Opponents of the move say the department is turning its back on students with disabilities.

鈥淭his isn’t about handing power to states,鈥� Jacqueline Rodriguez, CEO of the National Center for Learning Disabilities, said last week during a call with reporters. 鈥淚t’s about walking away from our responsibility to children and hoping that no one notices.鈥� 

For families, the past several months have created confusion over whether their children will continue to receive the services they need, and advocates have discovered broken links and missing documents about civil rights investigations and state monitoring reports on the department鈥檚 website. 

鈥淢oving [the department鈥檚] digital infrastructure to another agency could mean months 鈥� or years 鈥� of lost access to critical records,鈥� Callie Oettinger, an advocate in Virginia, wrote this week in her blog, . 

But some parents say states might be more responsive than the federal government when conflicts with districts arise.

鈥淚 feel like if you push the oversight closer to the community, then you can get better results,鈥� said Tricia Ambeau, an Arkansas mother of two whose eighth grader Emma has Down Syndrome and autism. A conservative, she previously served on the board of Disability Rights of Arkansas, but stepped down during the pandemic. State officials, she said, 鈥渃an make a two-hour drive to a school district and knock on the door and say 鈥榃hat’s going on here?鈥� You’re never going to get that at the federal level.鈥� 

2. Food stamps

While the Department of Agriculture, not Education, runs the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the shutdown and a court battle over whether the government would distribute full benefits has caused stress and chaos for families with school-age children. 

The end of the shutdown means recipients鈥� electronic benefit transfer cards should be refilled as normal. 

School districts across the country, like and , increased efforts to distribute food to needy families and served additional meals. encouraged parents to apply for free- and reduced-price lunch if their kids were not already on the program.

鈥淚t is important to remember that these families were not given the opportunity to plan and budget for this moment. How do you shop for groceries without knowing how many days or months you need the food to last?鈥� Chastity Lord, president and CEO of the Jeremiah Program, said in a statement. The nonprofit supports 2,000 single mothers across nine cities.

3. Proposed rule change on racial disparities in special education

While the government was closed, the department continued to receive comments on a proposed to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The department wants to lift the requirement that states submit data on racial and other disparities in special education services, including whether students with disabilities disproportionately receive harsher discipline.

In the announcement, the department said the change would 鈥渞educe the burden on respondents when completing the annual state application.鈥�

Data shows that Black students are for some special education categories, like intellectual disabilities and behavioral disorders, but underidentified for other services like dyslexia and autism. Students with disabilities are also suspended and expelled at higher rates than other students, government . The department鈥檚 recommendation would align with Trump鈥檚 that discourages schools from focusing on equity in school discipline and using less-punitive practices like conflict resolution. 

The department received over 100 comments on the proposal, with many opposed to the idea of suspending the requirement. The current rule 鈥渆nsures transparency and promotes fairness in educational opportunity for all students,鈥� EdTrust, an advocacy organization, wrote in .

Michael Petrilli, president of the conservative Thomas B. Fordham Institute, has for policies that remove disruptive students from the classroom. 

鈥淏ut the answer is not to kill the data collection,鈥� he said.

4. Charter school grants

One way that McMahon has promoted the administration鈥檚 school choice agenda is by highlighting and increasing spending on charter schools. Weeks before the shutdown, the department awarded $500 million in grants to charter schools, which included an additional $60 million over the current $440 million for the Charter Schools Program.

But just as the funds went out to states, charter networks and schools, the shutdown began, cutting off new grantees鈥� access to start-up support during a 鈥渃rucial window,鈥� said Brittnee Baker, communications director for the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.

In , which received $30 million, the disruption has delayed progress toward launching several new schools and expanding others. But some critics argue that the department is boosting funding for the sector at a time of slowing growth and charter closures. 

鈥淧olitics, not need, now drives program expansion,鈥� said a from the Network for Public Education. Diane Ravitch, a former Education Department official during the H.W. Bush administration, co-founded the advocacy organization.

5. Prayer guidance

The shutdown also interrupted work on school prayer guidance that President Donald Trump said the department would issue as part of a on 鈥減rotecting our religious freedoms.鈥�

Officials last following the U.S. Supreme Court鈥檚 decision in Kennedy vs. Bremerton, which held that a Washington school district could not stop a football coach from praying on the 50-yard line after games. 

The document clarified that school employees have a right to personal prayer or other forms of religious expression, like wearing a cross, during school hours, but they cannot “compel, coerce, persuade or encourage students鈥� to participate.

The 2023 guidance has 鈥渟erved to help schools and community members understand their rights and responsibilities under the First Amendment,鈥� said Maggie Siddiqi, senior fellow at the Interfaith Alliance, a nonprofit counteracting the religious right. She worked on the update when she served as director of the Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships at the department during the Biden administration. 

As the Trump administration appeals to Christian conservatives, it 鈥渄oes not have authority to do away with the First Amendment鈥� through guidance, she said and warned that parents and educators should watch for any language that allows schools to impose 鈥渙ne specific religious view on their entire student body.鈥� 

As a refresher, AASA, the School Superintendents Association, addressed the topic in its . The issue features a on religion in public schools from the Freedom Forum, a nonprofit focusing on First Amendment rights. With the administration and state leaders often emphasizing Christianity over other faiths and some states passing laws that set aside , the document answers 23 questions about what the law says. 

6. McMahon鈥檚 50-state tour

The secretary still has 40 states to go on her 鈥淩eturning Education to the States鈥� tour, which kicked off in August. 

While she primarily highlights charters and private schools on her visits, she has hit a few district schools on her route, including in Clinton, Tennessee, and in Bozeman, Montana.

McMahon said she鈥檚 gathering examples of promising practices for on issues such as literacy and school discipline, that the department will issue to states. But Cara Jackson, immediate past president of the Association for Education Finance and Policy, said the department wants to 鈥渢ake credit鈥� for some of the work that was in progress when it canceled funding for research. The association was among the groups that to the Institute for Education Sciences and the termination of regional education labs. The cases are ongoing, but of the contracts were later reinstated.

Proponents of eliminating the department don鈥檛 see the point.

鈥淭he information might be useful, but it is contradictory to shutting down the U.S. Department of Education,鈥� said Neal McCluskey, director of educational freedom at the libertarian Cato Institute. 鈥淲hy do it if you don鈥檛 think the department should exist at all?鈥�

颁辞谤谤别肠迟颈辞苍:听An earlier version of this article misstated the number of comments made on a proposed rule change to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which was provided by a government website. The correct number of comments was 100.

Three times a week, the young students struggling the most with reading at each of Milwaukee College Prep鈥檚 four campuses go to a dedicated classroom, don their headphones, and log into a virtual tutoring session.

For the next 30 minutes, each student gets one-on-one attention from a certified teacher who might ask them about their dog or their baby sister before diving into the lesson.

Virtual tutoring 鈥� in this case through a provider called OpenLiteracy 鈥� is the only way Milwaukee College Prep could provide so much tutoring for so many children and from such experienced educators, said Erica Badger, director of curriculum and instruction for the 2,000-student charter network.

鈥淲e have a hundred kids on at once,鈥� she said. 鈥淏eing able to have that many adults come into the school building? I can鈥檛 even imagine.鈥�

For these reasons and others, virtual tutoring has remained part of the toolbox of American schools long after students returned to in-person classes. It costs less than in-person tutoring, scheduling is more flexible, and providers aren鈥檛 limited to hiring in the surrounding community.

But it doesn鈥檛 always work smoothly.

Two studies from Stanford University鈥檚 National Student Support Accelerator released Wednesday used natural language processing technologies to review transcripts from tens of thousands of hours of virtual tutoring sessions. Their goal: to better understand exactly what happens between tutors and students in these sessions.

as revealed through tutor comments, such as 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 see me? I鈥檓 not sure why you can鈥檛 see me鈥� or 鈥淪orry. Did you say something? It was hard to hear.鈥�

Researchers found that 19% of available time was lost to disruptions, whether from technological issues, distracted students, or background noise. Time lost to disruptions was even greater when tutors were working with more than one student, especially if one of the students entered the session late.

The with students in one-on-one sessions and in sessions with two students.

Students were randomly assigned to either an individual tutor or to work with the tutor and another student. Tutors spent more time talking overall when they were working with two students, but only about 21% of tutor speech was individualized content instruction, compared with 65% one-on-one sessions. The tutors in the one-on-one sessions also used more phrases associated with motivation and relationship-building.

Both studies involved young students working on early literacy skills.

High-intensity or high-dosage tutoring, generally defined as occurring at least three times a week and for 10 weeks or longer, emerged as one of the most high-profile and effective interventions to address pandemic-related learning loss. .

The new studies shed light on why virtual tutoring in particular has a mixed track record, according to studies. They also suggest ways schools and tutoring providers can make these sessions more effective. That鈥檚 especially important now that federal pandemic relief has expired, and schools have less money to spend.

鈥淭here are specific features that effective tutoring programs tend to have, but what is actually driving effectiveness is kind of a black box,鈥� said Carly Robinson, a co-author on both papers and director of research at Stanford鈥檚 SCALE Initiative, which runs the National Student Support Accelerator.

The emergence of virtual tutoring provides new opportunities to provide answers, because new technology allows audio and video from these sessions to be analyzed at scale, Robinson said. Previous research using similar techniques found, for example, that tutors tend to , unless that student was a girl paired with a higher-performing boy. In those cases, the boy still got more attention.

Robinson said the research findings shouldn鈥檛 deter schools from using virtual tutoring or even from using small group sessions. That 81% of tutoring time was productive even when working with very young children is a 鈥減ositive finding,鈥� Robinson said.

Students experienced more disruptions when they worked in the corner of a classroom than in dedicated tutoring spaces. Small schools experienced more disruptions than large schools did as they added tutoring sessions. And the youngest children, kindergartners, experienced significantly more disruptions than second graders.

Researchers suggest that schools find a quiet dedicated space for children to work if possible; have an adult on hand to handle tech issues; and be realistic about each school鈥檚 capacity to host a lot of video calls at once.

The study on one-to-one versus two-to-one tutoring suggests that tutors may need different techniques, including strategies from in-person small group instruction, to ensure both students get the most possible from each session.

OnYourMark Education, the tutoring provider that was involved in that study, has already overhauled its 2:1 tutoring, CEO and founder Mindy Sjoblom said. Some of these changes were subtle, just as having tutors ask a question and then call on a child, so that both students have to pay attention to the question and think about the answer.

The study took place in OnYourMark鈥檚 second year of operation. Now in its fourth year, OnYourMark still offers one-to-one tutoring in , but when districts are paying out of pocket, they鈥檙e mostly opting for two-to-one sessions, she said. The company has lost some clients who decided they could no longer afford tutoring.

OnYourMark is piloting a program that has students work independently on an adaptive tech platform three days a week and meet with a tutor twice a week. If it鈥檚 successful, it would cost about 60% as much as two-to-one tutoring.

鈥淚f schools can鈥檛 afford to implement it, we鈥檙e spinning our wheels,鈥� Sjoblom said.

Thinking beyond a tutoring 鈥榞old standard鈥�

A lot of research on tutoring points to a 鈥済old standard,鈥� said Liz Cohen, vice president of policy at 50CAN, an advocacy group, and the author of 鈥淭he Future of Tutoring: Lessons from 10,000 School District Tutoring Initiatives.鈥� But schools might also be interested in what a silver standard or a bronze standard looks like.

The two new studies help identify trade-offs in a granular way that can shape training and program design, she said.

鈥淚t鈥檚 really important research because a big part of making tutoring more effective is figuring out how to scale it and make it more affordable,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hat means figuring out how to make the most out of the tutor鈥檚 time.鈥�

But Ashley Jochim, a principal at the Center for Reinventing Public Education, said perfecting tutoring programs won鈥檛 have much impact if schools don鈥檛 also pay attention to their core instruction.

鈥淲hat does it mean to do high-impact tutoring in a school system where the classroom instruction has not been optimized?鈥� she said. 鈥淭his is a huge liability. We optimize too much on these design-based studies without thinking about the system as a whole.鈥�

Milwaukee College Prep originally targeted a small group of fourth graders for extra reading help, but Badger said the network school realized that was too late and not enough. A donor approached the school about wanting to fund something that would really move the needle on student outcomes. A gift of $500,000 a year over three years allows the network to provide one-on-one tutoring for 30 minutes a day, three times a week to 200 first and second grade students.

Sarah Scott Frank, CEO of OpenLiteracy, the tutoring provider at Milwaukee College Prep, said she believes strongly in one-to-one tutoring. When students don鈥檛 work at the same pace, it can be 鈥渃rushing鈥� for the slower student, Frank said.

鈥淥ne kid would be zooming along, and the kids are very perceptive, and they see that, and they think 鈥榮ee, I can鈥檛 do that,鈥� and it reinforces that negative identity,鈥� she said.

One-to-one tutoring costs more up front, she said. But she believes it鈥檚 more cost effective because it works.

The charter network already had a classroom aide providing small-group instruction in addition to the lead teacher in every classroom. The charter network has also upgraded its literacy curriculum to add more phonics. Tutors and classroom teachers use the same curriculum and can share data easily.

Teachers practice the transition to the tutoring room and do trial runs with the platform so that students can log in smoothly two minutes before the session is supposed to start. An adult is on hand to troubleshoot tech problems. Attendance is measured in minutes.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not a quiet environment,鈥� Badger acknowledges. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 this hum and excitement of learning.鈥�

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.