With the start of the 2009-10 academic year, over 400 new public charter schools will open their doors to students and more than 170,000 new students will be attending public charter schools. With the addition of the new charter schools and students, there are now approximately 4,900 public charter schools enrolling over 1.5 million students across the country. States leading in charter school growth include: California: 98 new schools and more than 38,000 new students. Texas: 9 new schools, 55 additional campuses, and more than 14,000 new students. Florida: 48 new schools and approximately 13,000 new students. Arizona: 48 new schools and more than 5,000 new students. New York: 25 new schools and more than 8,500 new students. Ohio: 15 new schools and about 9,500 new students. Oregon: 14 new schools and approximately 3,000 new students. Georgia: 12 new schools and about 6,500 new students. Louisiana: 12 new schools and more than 4,500 new students. Pennsylvania: 11 new schools and about 8,500 new students. Colorado: 10 new schools, one additional campus, and almost 5,000 new students. Michigan: 10 new schools and about 3,500 new students. In contrast, the sector experienced 109 school closures in the spring of 2009. The highest number of closures occurred in California (22), Florida (21), Arizona (13), and Ohio (13).
State
New Charters, Fall 2009
Closed Charters, Spring 2009
Charter Schools, 2009-10
Charter Students, 2009-10
AK
0
0
25
5,300
AR
4
1
30
5,237
AZ
48
13
482
95,853
CA
98
22
809
313,245
CO
10 (+ 1 campus)
2
153 (on 159 campuses)
66,760
CT
0
0
17
4,898
DC
1 (+8 campuses)
4
57 (on 97 campuses)
27,595
DE
0
0
18
9,141
FL
48
21
423
128,359
GA
12
4
110
62,167
HI
0
0
31
7,741
IA
0
0
8
928
ID
6
1
36
13,812
IL
2 (+5 campuses)
2
39 (on 101 campuses)
36,750
IN
4
0
54
19,253
KS
3
3
34
4,902
LA
12
1
76 (on 78 campuses)
30,405
MA
2
1
62
28,247
MD
3
1
36
12,249
MI
10
2
231
104,527
MN
5
3
155
36,404
MO
6
1
33 (on 46 campuses)
19,783
NC
0
1
96 (on 97 campuses)
39,033
NH
0
0
10
662
NJ
6
0
68 (on 72 campuses)
22,206
NM
5
1
71
13,293
NV
3
0
26 (on 33 campuses)
11,827
NY
25
0
144
42,204
OH
15
13
332
96,967
OK
2
0
18
5,984
OR
14
3
98
16,725
PA
11
2
138
78,437
RI
2
0
13
3,423
SC
4
1
39
11,142
TN
6
0
22
4,963
TX
9 (+55 campuses)
4
216 (on 480 campuses)
115,478
UT
7
1
72
32,253
VA
0
0
4
250
WI
4
1
224
38,005
WY
0
0
3
353
Total
456
109
4,912
1,566,763
* We contacted state departments of education, charter school associations, and charter school resource centers to obtain lists of charter schools that had closed during or after the 2008-2009 academic year and charter schools that plan to open in the fall of 2009. The numbers presented in this report are estimates. The 2009-2010 numbers will be updated when official fall enrollment membership counts are released by state departments of education.
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Publication Date: 03/09/2009
