Open enrollment has been a hot topic for many years. Discussions on open enrollment typically revolve around its effects on traditional public schools.
But the effects of open enrollment on charter schools (also public schools) are discussed less frequently. While there are a number of potential effects, one is the expansion of a charter school’s “reach” or “market.” With open enrollment, charter schools would not only be able to serve more Missourians, but they could also become more innovative.
Charter schools are essentially limited to St. Louis City, Kansas City 33, Columbia, and any district that has been provisionally accredited for three consecutive years or is unaccredited. The reason they are limited to these districts is that in all other scenarios, the local school district has to approve a charter school to operate, which in Missouri has been a nonstarter.
At the time of this writing, there are 17 charter schools in the City of St Louis, 20 charters in Kansas City 33, and 1 in Normandy Schools Collaborative (through the accreditation mechanism).
Not only are charters limited in where they can operate, but they are further limited in the student base they can pull from. Unless a student’s family pays tuition to transfer in, each charter school is limited to students within its district’s boundaries. Not every state is like this.
Arizona has bolstered its charter schools by creating a robust open enrollment program. In Arizona, charter schools are not bound to a district-wide market.
This has permitted schools such as Arizona Autism Charter Schools (AACS) to thrive and serve a wide range of families in the state. If AACS were limited just to students in one district, it may not have been able to open or stay open due to a lack of demand. But open enrollment has enabled AACS to provide a specialized curriculum for parents commuting as far as 50 miles for their children’s education.
There are so many families with so many different needs, and open enrollment would allow for Missouri’s current and future charter schools to have a greater impact and greater opportunity to innovate.
