On June 4, 1991, the Legislature passed the first law in the nation that allowed for the creation of a charter school. In the 35 years since, nearly every state has followed suit, and charter enrollment has increased across the country every year. With over 4 million students, charter schools now educate 8% of the public school population and comprise the majority of the school systems in big cities like New Orleans and Detroit.
The continual growth of these publicly funded, privately operated schools shows no signs of slowing down. Even as it works to dismantle the Department of Education, the Trump administration intends to increase federal funding for charter schools. The president’s recent budget proposal for 2027 justifies these spending hikes by citing charter schools’ “proven track record of improving students’ academic achievement.”
This claim isn’t true. Even proponents of charter schools acknowledge the absence of clear evidence that they have better outcomes than traditional public schools.
Regulations vary widely from state to state, so “charter school” is more an umbrella term than a specific school structure. Across this broad spectrum, there are numerous examples of both high-performing schools and mismanaged, profit-driven failures. Advocates and opponents of charter schools are quick to cherry-pick from either extreme, trying to characterize them as wholly good or bad. But neither side can extend these anecdotes to the overall system.
So, with more than three decades of data, what do we actually know about charter schools?
In 2024, researchers at Stanford concluded that segregation has grown the most in districts with the widest expansion of charter schools. Furthermore, charter schools are “racially isolated” — i.e, a student population that’s at least 99% people of color — at more than four times the rate of traditional public schools. Charter schools are a definitive factor as schools approach levels of segregation we haven’t seen since the Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954.
The impact of charter schools must also be viewed through the lens of their teachers. Just 11% of charter school educators are represented by a labor organization, in contrast to the almost 70% of teachers working in traditional public schools. When the Department of Labor was proposed to oversee some federal charter programs, the leading advocacy group for the movement successfully lobbied the Trump administration to ensure charter schools would not be subject to any new labor requirements.
The United States has had a teacher shortage since the Great Recession, largely due to stagnant pay. Over the past two decades, Minnesota was one of the few states to increase teacher salaries enough to outpace inflation. Traditional public school teachers received the bulk of these raises: Minnesota charter school teachers are still paid almost $20,000 less than their counterparts. This pay gap is partially explained by charter teachers’ relative lack of experience and credentials. With a lower barrier to entry, charters turn over twice as many teachers as other public schools — a trend directly correlated with lower rates of union membership. This turnover leads to a reduction in teachers from university-based education programs, who are most likely to stay in the profession long term. This cycle dilutes the overall pool of educators for the whole system.
This wasn’t the intention of the original charter school advocates. Albert Shanker, widely considered to be the first to publicly propose the model, described his vision for charter schools that empowered teachers, parents and students to play a larger role in shaping their community’s education system. While there are exceptional examples like the Avalon School in St. Paul, many charters in the state underperform academically and are overseen by a small group of ineffectual nonprofits.
Given their reliable bipartisan support, dismantling charter schools probably isn’t politically feasible. However, we can demand concrete reforms. Minnesota started this experiment, so it should lead the way in righting the course.
Lawmakers should mandate stricter state oversight of charter authorizers, require robust integration standards and promote the right of all educators to unionize.
Over the next 35 years, let the next generation of leaders ensure that all types of public schools have a proven track record of achieving equitable student outcomes and valuing the work of teachers.
