Graph of the Day: Where Our Students Go

By Michael Diedrich, Policy Associate, January 18, 2012 at 11:00 am

To note the release of Minnesota 2020's new report, False Choices: The Economic Argument Against Market-Driven Education Reform, we'll look at a few graphs about education here in Minnesota. Our first looks at the split between charter schools and traditional public schools.

[ graph: click title to view in browser ]
(Data from the Minnesota Department of Education)

Charter schools are legally considered to be public schools as they receive government funds and are free to attend. For those of you who are curious, roughly 8-10% of Minnesota's students attend private schools. I'm more interested in the split between charters and traditional publics because these are the schools that are most available to families of any means.

Charter schools have attracted a lot of attention for quite some time. In the best-case scenario, they give interested teachers a chance to develop and refine innovative educational approaches. In the worst-case scenario, they are used to create a false “marketplace” for education by competing with traditional publics for students. Minnesota passed legislation allowing for charter schools 20 years ago, the first in the country to do so.

After 20 years, however, we can see that an overwhelming number of Minnesota's students still attend traditional public schools. In part, this is because charter schools are most viable in high-density urban environments where there is sufficient human capital to found, lead, and staff them (not to mention provide them with enough students to be worthwhile). Charters aren't an attractive option in many rural areas, and the major focus on them in education policy circles can be seen as a manifestation of the urban bias in education reform.

Still, this should be an argument for bringing our attention back to our traditional public schools. They've been struggling with declining funding for years now and often serve student populations with broader or more significant needs than nearby charters. It's time for us to recommit ourselves to supporting public education and recognizing that we can create a diverse and innovative public school sector without forcing our schools into a destructive competition with one another.

Posted in Education | Related Topics: K-12 education  Charter Schools  Education Administration 

1 Comment

Yi Li You says:

January 19, 2012 at 8:26 am

  What is the purpose of Charter schools? They are also public funded? What is the difference between Charters and public schools?

Are charter schools mainly serve minority students, e.g. Hmong students, etc? State also funding them? Why need to have 2 “pocket” of money, in fact, there is only one source of funding.

  There are several Chinese schools in Twin Cities. They are all privately funded by parents. Parents pay tuitions for the kids to learn Chinese on Saturdays. And kids still attending regular mainstream schools during day time.

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