Are Charter Schools Gaming the System to Get the Best Students?

A Reuters investigation of charter schools finds that many use elaborate strategies to ensure that they get the best students in their schools:

Thousands of charter schools don’t provide subsidized lunches, putting them out of reach for families in poverty.  Hundreds mandate that parents spend hours doing “volunteer” work for the school or risk losing their child’s seat.  In one extreme example the Cambridge Lakes Charter School in Pingree Grove, Illinois, mandates that each student’s family invest in the company that built the school – a practice the state said it would investigate after inquiries from Reuters.

And from New Hampshire to California, charter schools large and small, honored and obscure, have developed complex application processes that can make it tough for students who struggle with disability, limited English skills, academic deficits or chaotic family lives to even get into the lottery.

The impact may be profound for public schools in the same area:

Charter-school advocates say the shift in resources is warranted because charters often excel where traditional schools have failed, posting stellar test scores even in impoverished neighborhoods with little history of academic success.

But a growing number of education experts – including some staunch fans of charter schools – see that narrative as flawed.  They point to application barriers at some charter schools and high expulsion rates at others as evidence that the charter sector as a whole may be skimming the most motivated, disciplined students and leaving the hardest-to-reach behind.

That, in turn, can drive down test scores and enrollment at traditional public schools.  In Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Chicago and other cities, officials have cited just such trends as justification for closing scores of neighborhood schools to make way for still more charters.