State Picture on Charter Caps Still Mixed

Some easing restrictions as federal officials urge, though others reluctant.

Amid a strong push by the Obama administration to ensure that states don’t constrain the growth of the charter school sector, a number of legislatures this year debated measures on how many charters to allow, or whether to have such schools at all. But even with the extra attention from Washington, the outcomes have proved decidedly mixed.

On the one hand, at least four states took steps to permit more charter schools. Illinois and Tennessee raised their charter caps. Louisiana eliminated its ceiling altogether. And Delaware allowed a moratorium on new charters to lapse.

But some states went...