> Charter schools operate as non-default schools within the public school system, they don't get to charge parents at all.
You need a great big asterisk on that statement. There's a well regarded charter school about a mile from my house, we considered sending our kids there. They may not actually charge parents money, but you know what they do? They require parents to spend one day a week volunteering. Technically that isn't a charge, but effectively it's exactly that.
Sounds like they are selecting for families who are heavily invested in their kids' education. Great way to bump the test numbers and have focused classrooms, but it definitely isn't for everyone.
No, they’re investing in people who earn enough that they can take a day off work, or have a single parent earning enough to support them.
Anyone from a family where the parents are necessarily unable to do that cannot attend. So this is a really good way to select for a specific socio-economic group. This also helps inflate grades because most data shows that wealth correlates with academic achievement (for many reasons that aren’t “families are rich because they are smarter than other poorer families”)
You need a great big asterisk on that statement. There's a well regarded charter school about a mile from my house, we considered sending our kids there. They may not actually charge parents money, but you know what they do? They require parents to spend one day a week volunteering. Technically that isn't a charge, but effectively it's exactly that.