What are Charter Public Schools?
A charter public school is a public school, open to any student who applies. Charter public schools are required to meet state academic standards, but are allowed to operate free from many local district regulations that apply to other public schools, allowing for greater academic flexibility and innovation in the classroom.
 
Charter public schools are open to all students, regardless of income, gender, race or religion, and cannot impose any admission hurdles.  In exchange for increased public accountability, charter public schools have the freedom to pursue a customized educational vision and to make their own choices about the school’s design. This freedom gives them the ability to use innovative curricula, teaching approaches, and school organization that best suits the needs of a given community.  Charter public schools offer students, parents and teachers high-quality options within the public education system and bring untapped community resources and ideas directly into public schools.

There are 39 charter schools in Illinois educating 32,000 students.  However, there is a waiting list of more than 13,000 students unable to enroll because there are not enough charter public schools in Illinois.

Download a profile of every Illinois Public Charter School here.
 

How are students enrolled in Charter Public Schools? Don’t they enroll only the best and brightest students, leaving the others in traditional public schools?
Charter public schools are required to run a random lottery to enroll students. Charter public schools only run a lottery if applicants outnumber the available seats; otherwise, all interested students are accepted. If there are more applicants than seats in the school, the school has to keep a waiting list. Schools aren't allowed to: 1) save seats for any category of student; 2) give preference to children of staff or board; or 3) administer admissions tests or screenings. On the other hand, schools can give preference to the siblings of enrolled students to enable families to have their children at the same schools. Because of this open and non-selective enrollment process, charter public schools do not pluck the “best and brightest” from the traditional public school system; rather, they operate on an open enrollment basis and are available to any student whose parents agree to enroll them in the school.
 
How are Charter Public Schools different from Magnet Schools?
Magnet schools have highly selective academic standards, requiring students to take entrance exams and meet a determined quota. Magnet schools can also require auditions or other methods for students to demonstrate specialized talents, whereas charters can't do this. Charter public schools don't require any testing for entrance; however, both charter public schools and magnet schools must require students to meet state and district academic standards, as well as to take state- and district-mandated tests.

In 2007, 36 of 41 Illinois charter schools--including 10 of Chicago's charter high schools--earned average ISAT and PSAE scores higher than those of the district schools their students otherwise would have attended.
 
How do Charter Public Schools help children achieve their highest potential?
Charter public schools employ highly qualified, dedicated teachers to educate their students. Classes are engaging and kept at a low student-to-teacher ratio. Charter public school teachers and administrators can immediately respond to current academic conditions with flexibility in scheduling and curriculum creation to allow maximum success for their students.

Charter public school leaders can design curriculums and set educational goals that best reflect the needs of their school's student population. Schools can have longer days, longer years, or Saturday classes. They can schedule in blocks of time to give greater emphasis to specific subjects, and they can incorporate parent involvement in core curricular activities. Additionally, charter public schools can integrate core studies with extracurricular activities, such as math programs that incorporate music or a high school curriculum that includes business internships.

Charter public schools can also require students to create presentations, maintain a portfolio, or report on their activities as part of the school's formal evaluation and grading process, integrating business skills along with allowing them to be connected to their own academic growth. Most charter public schools also establish parental involvement standards that require a student’s guardian to be involved in their child’s education.

How are Charter Public Schools evaluated?
Charter public schools administer the same state standardized tests as traditional public schools and are held accountable to the results required by their charter agreement. And while one of the measures of student achievement may be standardized test results, there are others. Often a charter public school agreement sets a higher standard than traditional public schools, and they consistently exceed those standards. Charter operators are reviewed by the school board every five years, and if charter public schools do not get the results required by their charters, they are at-risk for termination of their charter and/or closure.
 
How are Charter Public Schools funded?
Charter public schools are public schools, and the funding follows the students. Funding that normally would be spent educating a student at a traditional public school simply follows the student to the charter public school. Every charter public school agreement between the charter operator and the School Board specifies a per-pupil allocation that is negotiated as part of the agreement. This allocation is typically less than what the traditional public school receives.
 
In addition to receiving a lower per-pupil allocation from the district, charter public schools are also barred from accessing the construction financing programs that are open to traditional public schools, and many charter public schools explore alternative options for funding such as donations from business and relying more heavily on volunteers.
 
How are Charter Public Schools governed?
Charter public schools are governed by non-profit boards of directors that could include parents, teachers and community leaders. They are free to adapt their governance structure based on the needs of the students enrolled. Charter public schools often partner with local businesses and other community organizations to achieve results that have a positive effect on public education.

Are Charter Public School teachers certified?
In Illinois, more than two-thirds of the teachers in charter public schools are state-certified, while the remaining are educators with a bachelor’s degree, an average of five years of professional experience and successful completion of state exams of basic skills and relevant subject matter. Charter public school teachers receive twice the ongoing training than other public school teachers receive. All charter public school teachers meet federal No Child Left Behind and state standards above and beyond certification.
 
How many Charter Public Schools exist in Illinois? Is there a limit to the number that can exist? 
There are 39 charter public schools in Illinois serving 32,000 public school students. Of those charter public school populations, 84% of the students come from low-income families, 94% are minorities with 65% being African American and 29% Latino. The total number of charter public schools is capped by law at 60. Currently 30 exist in Chicago, which is their legal limit. The collar counties of Chicago have a limit of 15 charter public schools and “downstate” (which includes Rockford) has a limit of 15. As of today, there are 7 downstate charter public schools, leaving only 8 open slots available.

Senate Bill 2402 would increase the total number of public charters permitted in Illinois from 60 to 100 and abolish geographic restrictions. (Sun-Times Editorial: "State should pass bill, lift charter cap") Express your support to your state legislator. (Find your legislator at http://www.ilga.gov/)
 

What types of results have existing Charter Public Schools had? 
A recent report by the nationally renowned RAND Corporation on the Chicago charter public schools shows that, for the average eighth-grade charter student in Chicago who goes on to a charter public high school, he/she has an 11% better chance of attending college and an advantage of 7 percentage points in the probability of graduating from high school. Chicago charter public schools send 83% of their students to post-secondary education, and 32% more charter public high school students attend colleges rated “selective” or “very selective” than do their peers at traditional Chicago public high schools.

In 2007, 36 of 41 Illinois charter schools--including 10 of Chicago's charter high schools--earned average ISAT and PSAE scores higher than those of the district schools their students otherwise would have attended.
 
Can Charter Public Schools help a community in ways other than education?
Yes. In addition to the traditional public schools benefitting from the adoption of successful charter public school methods, there are also significant economic benefits to the community. The Illinois Network of Charter Schools recently unveiled the Charter Impact Projector (CHIP), a new tool that helps Illinois communities project the economic benefit of charter public schools. Among other findings, CHIP determined that, conservatively, the annual financial benefit to Rockford of turning one high school drop-out into a college graduate ranges from $38,400 to $42,000 per graduate per year. This translates into a five-year economic benefit to Rockford of more than $11 million (based on one charter public high school with 100 students).
 
How would Charter Public Schools be implemented in the local school district?
Charter public school proposals – inclusive of the school’s mission, educational program and financial plan – would be presented to the local school board, which has 45 days to hold public meetings and to gather information. The School Board then makes a decision on the proposal within another 30 days. Extensive research, planning and development work are required before the application is even submitted and the school board takes action. RCSI therefore is taking the lead in Rockford to assist charter operators and charter design teams in preparing and presenting the best proposals possible to our School Board.
 
Where can I get more information?
Information is available at the RCSI’s website – www.RockfordCharterSchools.com – where the public can also sign up to receive email updates and event invitations. RCSI also will host public forums on charter public schools and provide speakers for organizations interested in learning more about charter public schools. Public events will be publicized in the local media and on the group’s website. RCSI can be reached at 815.637.1754 or at 330 Spring Creek Road, Rockford, IL 61107.