The Long Arc of Charter Schools
More than three and a half decades after the first charter school law passed, charter schools have become one of the most enduring and impactful education reforms in modern American history.
Today, 47 states and the District of Columbia have charter school laws, and more than 3.7 million students attend charter schools nationwide. Tens of thousands more remain on waitlists each year. It’s not enough.
CER’s Parent Power!® Index, which measures the degree to which states afford parents opportunity and innovation, shows a clear pattern: states that create strong charter school laws expand opportunities for families, while states without them leave parents with far fewer options.
Charter schools were born out of a simple idea: give educators the freedom to innovate and hold them accountable for results.
In thousands of communities across the country, that idea has worked.
Charter schools have opened doors for students who were previously trapped in systems that did not serve them well. They have incubated new models of teaching and learning. They have created opportunities for educators and community leaders to build schools that reflect the needs and aspirations of families.
But the story of charter schools is not just one of growth.
It is also a story of unfinished work.
South Dakota Had the Opportunity
This year, South Dakota had the opportunity to join the national charter school movement.
Legislation that would have allowed charter schools to operate in the state was introduced and drew serious attention. Families, educators, and policy leaders across the country were watching closely.
But when the moment came, legislative leadership chose not to move the bill forward.
The effort stalled. Not because the idea lacked merit, and not because families lacked interest, but because the political will to finish the job simply wasn’t there.
Across the country, charter school laws have often required multiple attempts before they finally passed. South Dakota may simply be at that point in the story.
But this year, the opportunity was there — and it slipped away.
Yet, when the door opens, the builders will be ready. Some already are.
Consider Mary Jo Fairhead, founder of Onward Learning, a nationally recognized model serving students whose educational journeys have been disrupted.
Through flexible learning environments, career pathways, and personalized support, Onward Learning has helped students who might otherwise fall through the cracks reconnect with education and graduate with purpose.
In fact, Onward Learning was awarded a $500,000 STOP Award through the Yass Prize because of its success helping students find their way forward.
Models like this are exactly the kind of innovative schools that charter laws make possible.
They are built by entrepreneurs who see problems that traditional systems struggle to solve — and who are willing to build new institutions to solve them.
States that create strong charter laws invite these innovators in.
States that don’t leave them waiting. Governor Larry Rhoden and South Dakota lawmakers: take note.
The Map Is Nearly Full
For many years, the march toward nationwide charter school access moved steadily forward. States across the political spectrum adopted laws allowing communities to create independent public schools designed around innovation and accountability.
Today, only a handful of states remain without charter school laws. These include:
South Dakota
Nebraska
Vermont
Forty-seven states (including North Dakota, which enacted a strong charter school law just last year) have decided that empowering educators and families to create new public schools is worth doing. Only three have not.
Nearly every other state has concluded that empowering educators to build mission-driven public schools — while holding them accountable for results — is worth doing.
The question now is whether the remaining states will give their families the same opportunity.
Strong Laws Matter
Passing a charter school law is important. But enacting a strong law is what truly changes the landscape.
For years, CER has emphasized that the quality of a charter law determines whether innovation can actually take root. The National Charter School Laws and Ranking Scorecard that CER has been putting out since 1996 has consistently shown that states with strong charter school laws create real opportunity for families, while weak laws often result in little growth at all.
Strong laws are laws that:
Allow multiple independent authorizers, including universities so strong Independent charter schools can thrive without overzealous regulators from traditional government agencies replacing their autonomy with micromanagement.
Ensure and accelerate growth by having no cap on the number of charter schools permitted.
Provide real autonomy, giving schools and teachers the freedom to operate and educate students as parents choose.
Ensure full and fair funding that follows the child, including support for facilities and transportation.
States that incorporate these principles tend to see vibrant ecosystems of schools serving diverse communities. States that do not are weak and often laws in name only. They do not stimulate healthy charter schools that can thrive and grow and attract others. Think Maryland, Virginia, and Kansas to name just a few.
Even states with long-standing charter movements continue to improve their policies.
Just look at Florida, consistently a top performer on the National Charter School law rankings, expanded the authorizing landscape just five years ago to allow higher education institutions to sponsor and start charter schools.
Continuing to innovate, institutions of higher ed are recognizing the important connection between their work and K-12. Under the leadership of Manny Diaz, former state Commissioner of Education, the University of West Florida (UWF) is the latest to become a charter school sponsor.
It is a reminder that passing a charter law is not the finish line; it is the beginning of building a strong ecosystem where innovative schools can thrive.
Iowa Shows What Leadership Looks Like
A powerful example of this is Iowa, where Governor Kim Reynolds took a failing law from 31st to 11th by leading on a few simple but important changes.
First, in 2021 the state established a new law greatly expanding authorizers. In 2024, she led the fight to improve funding parity and facilities access for charter students, and, the latest budget bill equalizes state funding for public charter and ESAs. And now, she is racing to enact even bigger and better opportunities for charter schools to grow and be even more innovative.
Rather than simply checking a policy box, Iowa has worked to create conditions where new schools can emerge and families can access real alternatives. Leadership matters in moments like this.
Governors and legislatures that recognize the importance of educational innovation can open doors that have been closed for decades. Top 10 is within reach!
The Road to 50
With most of the country already embracing charter schools, the question is no longer whether the model works. The evidence is overwhelming. The real question is whether the remaining states will allow their families to access and whether those with weak laws will recognize there is no limit to what educators can do if you give them the opportunity to create their own schools.
History suggests they eventually will. In reality, parent power decides what comes next.
As demand from parents, educators, and community leaders continues to grow, it becomes impossible to ignore, policy tends to follow.
South Dakota’s legislative leadership may have stepped back this year. Parents did not.
Across the country, the expansion of educational opportunity has been driven not only by policy experts or advocacy groups, but by families who insist that their children deserve better options.
That is why the Parent Power!® Index exists — to measure whether states are empowering families or standing in their way.
And it is why elections matter.
When lawmakers decline to move forward on policies that expand opportunity, voters often decide the issue themselves. The next round of primaries will be critical to whether South Dakota’s leaders align with the families they serve.
Because the story of charter schools in America has always been the same: when parents demand change strongly enough, the map eventually fills in.
And when it does, 50 will not be far behind.
So many issues, so little time. Hope you enjoyed this week’s Forza on charter schools — once the biggest low-hanging fruit in education reform and still a critical piece of the progress we cannot afford to neglect.
A big shout-out to Jonathan and Katie on the CER team for their help pulling it all together today! Until next week — Jeanne
Hoping IL gets on board!