Charter schools, which have long enrolled fewer children with disabilities than traditional public schools, must prioritize improving access and experiences for the growing student population—and states, authorizers, and community organizations must support them in that work.
That’s the conclusion of a new report that argues that improving approaches to special education and enrollment is vital for both the well-being of students and the long-term success of the charter sector.
States and authorizers can play a role by shaping policies like application processes, giving students with disabilities priority in enrollment lotteries, and monitoring schools’ success, said the report released July 16 by the Center for Learner Equity, a research and advocacy organization that focuses on how the charter sector serves students with disabilities.
“Parents of kids with disabilities are not interested in the argument of districts vs. charters; they just want good schools,” CLE Executive Director Lauren Morando Rhim said. “In our ideal world, their child could go to both schools, they are both good options, and [parents] know how to navigate those choices.”
The Charter School Equity, Growth, Quality, and Sustainability Study, commissioned by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is the result of two years of expert interviews, legislative reviews, and data analysis to determine how charters can better fulfill their obligations to students with disabilities. It includes recommendations for nonprofit organizations, states, and charter authorizers. A report with specific recommendations for schools will be published in the fall. (The Gates Foundation provides funding to Education Week. The media organization retains full editorial control over its articles.)
While charter schools’ overall enrollment has grown steadily over the last decade, enrollment of students with disabilities has not kept pace, the report said. Students with disabilities made up 14.1 percent of traditional public school enrollment in the 2021-22 school year, but only 11.5 percent of charter school enrollment.
“Critics of charter schools, ascendant in some state legislatures, have and will continue to use negative examples to threaten the sector’s health and sustainability,” the report said.
Charters, many of which operate independently outside of larger organizations, face challenges of scale with teachers, support staff, and resources that can create hurdles for effective special education plans. But the publicly funded schools were also created to have greater flexibility, allowing for innovation in critical areas like equity for students with all learning needs, Morando Rhim said.
For example, both charters and traditional public schools have struggled to retain special education teachers. Charter schools, smaller and more nimble than large districts, could try teacher-driven experimental models for staffing, planning, and case management to improve the educator experience over the long term, Morando Rhim said.
“We were surprised we didn’t see more of that,” she said. “If teachers go into schools and they feel like they can’t be successful, they are not going to stay in the profession.”
Among the report’s recommendations:
- States should update charter-authorizing laws to prioritize enrollment access for students with disabilities, and they should allow schools to grant those students preference in enrollment lotteries.
- States should update their Medicaid reimbursement policies to ensure charter schools can more easily claim reimbursement for student services.
- State agencies should increase accountability measures and create school report cards that provide information about the experiences of students with disabilities in charters.
- Authorizers should identify students with disabilities as a priority in the new school approval process, calling upon organizers to better consider their needs in the earliest days of their planning.
- Authorizers should create guidance on charters’ legal obligations to students with disabilities and promote promising practices to “show what excellence looks like.”
- Nonprofit organizations should help charter schools build capacity by connecting them to community resources that can help serve students.
- Nonprofit organizations that work with charters should target grant funding for special education services and supports.
