Dive Brief:
- A report from the ACLU Foundation of Southern California and law firm Public Advocates says more than one in five charter schools in California has admissions policies that keep some students out.
- EdSource reports 253 of the 1,228 California charters describe exclusionary policies on their websites including denying enrollment to students with low academic achievement or poor English skills and discouraging enrollment by asking for citizenship information, student or parent essays, interviews, or mandatory donations or volunteer time.
- Jed Wallace, CEO of the California Charter Schools Association, agrees that charter schools, by law, must be open to everyone, and he described in a statement an urgency to work with schools that specifically limit enrollment based on academic performance — though he said some of the other admissions requirements are not necessarily exclusionary.
Dive Insight:
The idea that charter schools do not have to educate the same diverse population of students as traditional public schools has been one of the longest-running criticisms of the model. Critics say charters siphon money from traditional schools and cherry-pick their student bodies. Harsh discipline policies fall into this argument, along with limited services for students with special needs or English language learners.
In his statement, the CCSA's Wallace drew attention to the less than 2% of California charter schools that were identified as having exclusionary practices based on academic performance, saying the small number was encouraging. He also said there has been progress made on reducing the number of charter schools that require mandatory volunteer hours or donations, which can make enrollment impossible for struggling families.