New Report Reveals Startling Rates of Charter School Failures

A new report by the National Center for Charter School Accountability examines charter school closures since 1998. By year five, 26% close, climbing to 55% by year 20. More than one million students have attended a charter when it closed.

NEW YORK, Oct. 15, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- More than one in four charter schools close before year five, according to the National Center for Charter School Accountability (NCCSA) report Doomed to Fail: An Analysis of Charter Closures from 1998-2022. The report provides the most comprehensive research on charter school longevity to date. Using an innovative cohort design and data obtained from the Common Core of Data (CCD), research analyst Ryan Pfleger, Ph.D. measured the average lifespan of charter schools at the three, five, ten, fifteen, and twenty-year mark. 

The report also analyzes contemporary news stories to explain the why and how of charter closures. It details recent shutdowns of charter schools that stranded students mid-year with little warning. Doomed to Fail cautions parents that enrolling their child in a charter school comes with a considerable risk of school closure.

Findings include the following:

• By year five, 26% of charter schools have closed.
• By year ten, nearly four in ten charters fail, rising to 55% by year twenty.
• Eight states have closure rates that exceed 45%.
• Between 1998 and 2022, more than one million students were affected by charter shutdowns.
• The inability to attract and retain students is the primary reason for charter school failures.
• The second most frequent reason for closure is fraud or gross mismanagement.
• Forty percent of closures are abrupt, giving insufficient warning.
• School operators, not authorizers, initiate the majority of closures.

The report ends with recommendations that include the need for local demographic projections before charters are approved to open, hard caps on the number of charter schools, a halt in the federal funding given to open charter schools, and charter school law reforms to prevent the fraudulent practices that result in charter closures.

The National Center for Charter School Accountability, a project of the Network for Public Education, provides research and recommendations on increasing transparency and accountability for charter schools.

The Network for Public Education is a national advocacy organization with over 350,000 members and 200 grassroots groups. Its mission is to preserve, promote, improve, and strengthen public schools for current and future generations of students.

Contact: Carol Burris
[email protected]
(646) 678-4477

SOURCE Network for Public Education