Florida’s students have greater access to charter schools than their counterparts in all but four states.
Twenty-five years after Minnesota became the first state to authorize charters, and 20 years after Gov. Lawton Chiles signed the law allowing them in Florida, the Hamilton Project, an offshoot of the Brookings Institution, published an analysis that shows the availability of charter schools varies widely by state.
The analysis, released last month, shows almost exactly half of Florida’s students had access to charters during the 2014-15 school year. By this count, Florida trailed only the Four Corners states of Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico.
The report defines access as living in a ZIP code with at least one charter school. But it acknowledged that meaningful access could be affected by other factors.
For one thing, district lines can prevent students from attending charters that might otherwise be accessible. That barrier would be lowered in Florida under a bill awaiting action by Gov. Rick Scott.
The report notes that it’s already fairly common for states to allow students to cross district lines to attend charters.
While the majority of state charter laws allow for either statewide open enrollment or interdistrict open enrollment, a small number of states do not have open enrollment. In these states, students are restricted to applying for a seat at a charter school in their home district but are not allowed to apply to a charter school in a neighboring district. For thousands of students in seven states, there is local access to a charter school but not enrollment access. Less-restrictive enrollment policies increase access to choice.
Other barriers would remain. Parents need to know a charter school is available. There needs to be a space in the school for their child. They need access to transportation. Living near a charter school doesn’t guarantee access to true school choice, but it can be start.
