Big pandemic boost for charter schools

Charter schools nationwide have gained hundreds of thousands of students during the coronavirus outbreak, while enrollment has plunged at traditional public schools amid building closures and inferior virtual learning, a report reveals.

Charter enrollment increased by 7.1 percent nationally during 2020-21 amid the initial wave of the pandemic, according to the “Voting With Their Feet” analysis conducted by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. Enrollment at charter schools jumped from 3,350,785 in 2019-2020 to 3,588,094 in 2021 — nearly 240,000.

At the same time, enrollment at traditional public schools plunged by 3.3 percent — a drop of nearly 1.5 million — from 44,025,289 to 42,572,705, the report released Wednesday states.

In New York state, charter-school enrollment jumped 7.4 percent while students in traditional public schools dropped by 3.6 percent.

Much of the state charter increase occurred in New York City, home to the lion’s share of the publicly funded, privately managed schools. Enrollment in city charters surged by nearly 10,000 students — from 128,951 to 138,613, according to the New York City Charter School Center.

In the Big Apple, there are now 272 charter schools accounting for 14 percent of all public-school students.

At the same time, the city Department of Education reported losing 37,730 students during that two-year period.

While there was planned charter growth in many states including New York, the report suggests that parents fed up with inferior virtual classes contributed to the publicschool exodus.

School districts across the country expanded summer-school options for students to address pandemic “learning loss.”

“The analysis further confirms that a large segment of the nation’s students changed where they attended school last year, prompted by school closures, job loss and dissatisfaction with remote learning,” the report said.

New York City charter schools continue to grow despite the pandemic and were nimble in adapting to virtual learning during the pandemic, said NYC Charter Center CEO James Merriman.

“Kids continue to choose charter schools. Charter schools were able to start up remote programs much more quickly — and they were real programs,” Merriman said.

In other states, many parents enrolled kids in charter schools that offered in-person learning while other schools didn’t.

Yet in other states — particularly Oklahoma — there was an increase in “virtual” charter schools offering all classes online. Charter-school enrollment there has jumped by 78 percent during the pandemic.