California Charter Association Sets Goal to Double Charter School Enrollment

By Kimberly Sawatka

The California Charter School Association has set a goal to expand charter enrollment by 1 million students by 2022. This would double the number of students currently attending charter schools around the state.

The push for increased enrollment is due to the fact that more than 150,000 children are currently on a waiting list to attend an area charter school.

California leads the nation in charters, with 1,230 schools in operation, and 230 of those schools located just in the Los Angeles Unified School District – where charter supporters are seeing heavy opposition.

The school board passed a resolution in January that stymies all outside education reforms that “seek to reduce public education in Los Angeles to an educational marketplace.”

In Anaheim, the school board and superintendents are trying to block parents who used the state’s Parent Empowerment Act to convert a local elementary school into an independent charter school.

Despite these hardships, parents in California are continuing to push for more educational choice options and with good reason. A new report, “Education Equality Index” from Education Cities, sited nine of the top 10 schools in Los Angeles are independent charter schools.

With the push from parents and people on the ground in California, we hope charter schools meet this ambitious expansion goal and can serve as many students as possible and give them the chance at a brighter future.