3 ms·

Please don’t spread misinformation. Charter school law varies by state and you should not make blanket statements about what they are allowed to do.

1123581321 1y ago
They appear to be essentially correct. There is little variance by state in how they accept students from the public. Were you thinking of a particular state? Here's information on the admission laws for each state from Wested. https://wested2024.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/22111658/State-Charter-Laws-Lottery-Enrollment-1206-ADA-FINAL.pdf https://wested2024.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/upl...
- lazyasciiart 1y ago
  In zero states can you show up at a charter school and say “I live next door, I want to enrol” and be enrolled. That is an enormous difference from public schools that immediately eliminates the most disadvantaged students from the applicant pool. Moreover, some charter schools require things like parental time volunteering, which eliminates more kids, or introductory essays - they don’t score the essays! They just require it to be done! By horrible coincidence this eliminates more cough lower performing children, who simply never submit a completed application for the lottery, so sad. This definitely happens in multiple states but here’s one specific example: https://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-charter-application-20160808-snap-story.html https://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-charter-app...
  - Chris2048 1y ago
    > By horrible coincidence this eliminates more cough lower performing children If it's not scored it can't possibly eliminate low-performing children on that unconflated characteristic alone - a motivated underperformer will still get in. It eliminates the unmotivated, which correlates obviously with underperforming. While it can be a vicious circle, I'd say no-motivation -> underperformance is of much greater relevance than underperformance -> no-motivation. The obvious hint is how it tests the parents too. sure. maybe they are very motivated but just work so much they cannot volunteer or spare any time, but doesn't that also somewhat render their 'motivation' moot as well?
  - 1123581321 1y ago
    That is concerning, but the original post was claiming a significant variance of state law. The wested legal summary focuses on that.
- TimorousBestie 1y ago
  Your link is about the mandated lottery system that applies when too many applicants submit applications to the same charter school, so it clearly doesn’t protect students whose parents were strongly advised not to apply.
  - 1123581321 1y ago
    Are you thinking of a particular situation? Charters usually have to market to fill the school because it's expensive to operate below capacity. (That's not unique to charters; public school districts also market to maximize voluntary enrollment.)

1123581321 1y ago

They appear to be essentially correct. There is little variance by state in how they accept students from the public. Were you thinking of a particular state? Here's information on the admission laws for each state from Wested. https://wested2024.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/22111658/State-Charter-Laws-Lottery-Enrollment-1206-ADA-FINAL.pdf https://wested2024.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/upl...

lazyasciiart 1y ago
In zero states can you show up at a charter school and say “I live next door, I want to enrol” and be enrolled. That is an enormous difference from public schools that immediately eliminates the most disadvantaged students from the applicant pool. Moreover, some charter schools require things like parental time volunteering, which eliminates more kids, or introductory essays - they don’t score the essays! They just require it to be done! By horrible coincidence this eliminates more cough lower performing children, who simply never submit a completed application for the lottery, so sad. This definitely happens in multiple states but here’s one specific example: https://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-charter-application-20160808-snap-story.html https://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-charter-app...
- Chris2048 1y ago
  > By horrible coincidence this eliminates more cough lower performing children If it's not scored it can't possibly eliminate low-performing children on that unconflated characteristic alone - a motivated underperformer will still get in. It eliminates the unmotivated, which correlates obviously with underperforming. While it can be a vicious circle, I'd say no-motivation -> underperformance is of much greater relevance than underperformance -> no-motivation. The obvious hint is how it tests the parents too. sure. maybe they are very motivated but just work so much they cannot volunteer or spare any time, but doesn't that also somewhat render their 'motivation' moot as well?
- 1123581321 1y ago
  That is concerning, but the original post was claiming a significant variance of state law. The wested legal summary focuses on that.
TimorousBestie 1y ago
Your link is about the mandated lottery system that applies when too many applicants submit applications to the same charter school, so it clearly doesn’t protect students whose parents were strongly advised not to apply.
- 1123581321 1y ago
  Are you thinking of a particular situation? Charters usually have to market to fill the school because it's expensive to operate below capacity. (That's not unique to charters; public school districts also market to maximize voluntary enrollment.)