Charter Public Schools

What is a Charter Public School?*

Please visit the Mass Charter School Association for additional information.

Charter schools are public schools, authorized by the Department of Education and operating tuition free for students in the Commonwealth. Founders are generally parents, community members, and/or members of the general public, who come together and write a proposal for a school. Often charter public schools are organized around a specific mission, theme, or curricular focus. The Department of Education determines which charter public schools will open and provides rigorous review, oversight, and evaluation of those schools.

There are two types of charter public schools: Commonwealth Charter Schools and Horace Mann Charter Schools. Both operate independent of the local school system, but a Horace Mann Charter School must have the approval of the local school committee and teachers' union, and their yearly budget request must be approved by the local school committee as well. Every charter public school is managed by a board of trustees.

In exchange for specific freedoms (in organizational structure, mission, and academic program), charter public schools are held to high levels of accountability; they must successfully manage school finances and operations, and they must demonstrate student achievement; if they don't, the school is closed.

Charter public schools began in Minnesota in 1991 as a way to offer students the choice to attend new and different public schools. In Massachusetts, charter public schools were initiated as part of the Education Reform Act of 1993, to offer choice and to foster innovation in education. Across the country, charter public schools have grown from 1 in 1992 to over 4,000 in 2008. Currently Massachusetts has 61 charter public schools.

Visit the Mass Charter Public School website for additional information.

*copied from the Massachusetts Charter Public School Association