What is a charter school?

A lot of parents ask us about charter schools: Are they the same as public schools? How are they different from PUSD schools?

There are several charter schools operating within the boundaries of our district, and although they are not restricted to enrolling students only from PUSD’s catchment area, they do compete with PUSD for a declining local population of school-age students. 

Because they are independent by design, it’s hard to generalize about charter schools. Here is a basic explanation of what differentiates charters from district schools, with links to more detailed information about how charter schools operate in California.

Authorization - Charter schools are authorized by local school districts OR the local county office of education, subject to state law requiring a charter to be granted if basic requirements are met. (A 2019 law gave districts more leeway to consider how the charter school would impact the community and existing schools.) 

Governance - Charters must be reviewed/reauthorized periodically, and may be shut down if they fail to perform. Charters are governed by their own boards of directors, as defined in their charter, whereas school districts (like PUSD) are governed by a body of locally-elected trustees. Most charter schools within the PUSD attendance boundary are authorized by the District, therefore each has an assigned member liaison from the Board of Education (just like the public schools). Board members are expected to maintain productive relationships with the charters.

Public funding - Charter schools are publicly funded, and by law cannot charge tuition.

Non-profit only - Prior to 2018, charter schools in California could be organized as for-profit entities. State law now prohibits charters from being operated as or by a for-profit entity.

Enrollment - Unlike school districts, charters are not limited to a narrowly defined geographic catchment area. They may not discriminate in enrollment, and are required to serve English learners and students with special educational needs. In practice, however, charters tend to serve fewer students with IEPs and students with more extensive needs than public school districts like PUSD.

Staffing - Charter school teachers in core subjects must be certificated. They may be unionized, but in practice most are not. Charter schools are not bound by most laws about class sizes, hours of operation, and use of seniority in staffing decisions. 

Academic standards - Charter schools may be distinguished by a particular approach to pedagogy, but their students must take the same state tests aligned with the same Common Core standards as do students in district schools. (This is not true for private schools.)

See Ed100 Lesson 5.5 for a more detailed explanation of how charter schools compare with district-run public schools. This Ed100 blog post gets into the issues raised and debated by charter school proponents and opponents.