The persistent charter school boasting looks empty after years of turmoil. Schools opening and closing, high teacher turnover, unfulfilled promises. Result: California saw a decline in charter enrollment for the first time in three decades.
It’s not for a lack of money to promote charters. The big money is still there. The California Charter Schools Association is still a wealthy and powerful organization.
Something has changed. Could it be that parents are choosing their local public schools?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Unfortunately public school enrollment is also dropping in California: https://edsource.org/2022/california-k-12-enrollment-plunges-again-falls-below-6-million/670111
The kids leaving public schools are not fleeing to charter schools.
True.
The article cited above includes this line “But enrollment affidavits that private schools provide the state show that private school enrollment grew by 18,528 students — 3.9% — to 489,488 in 2021-22. That’s actually a reversal of a downward trend; in 2012-13 private school enrollment was 516,197, according to data by the California Association of Private School Organizations.” and this correlates with a lot of the sentiment that I have seen expressed on places like Nextdoor in response to the math controversy that I mentioned in another comment here.
There’s nothing dramatic to report here or crow about. Slight declines may be explained by the following FACTS!
Check the population growth charts for California (links provided).
Population growth in California slowed during the pandemic providing Tucker Carlson’s Trumpish dumber than dumb MAGA heads fake-fuel to crow that there’s an exodus from California.
How accurate is BS like that?
“SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California’s population shrank for the second year in a row in 2021 as the nation’s most populous state was hit by declining birth rates, higher deaths from the pandemic and fewer people moving into the state from elsewhere in the U.S., officials said Monday.”
https://www.kxxv.com/news/californias-population-fell-again-amid-pandemics-2nd-year#:~:text=SACRAMENTO%2C%20Calif.,the%20U.S.%2C%20officials%20said%20Monday.
How much did the population shrink? About a quarter of ONE percent.
The state of California’s population declined 0.3% between 2021 and 2022, according to population estimates released Monday by the state Department of Finance. That’s a decline of 117,552 residents.
https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article260980852.html
California still has a population of almost 40,000,000 people.
“California lost 117,552 people in 2021, putting its population at 39,185,605, the California department of finance said on Monday. Although California still has the largest state population in the country, with Texas in second place, the decline marks the continuation of a trend.”
The next link explains the decrease in birth rates and that isn’t just happening in California.
https://www.ppic.org/blog/californias-new-baby-bust/
And, those Charter Schools are still CRAP and should not receive one cent from the public. Online voucher schools, on the other hand, shouldn’t be allowed to exist at all.
The school age population is declining.
The Edsource article I cited provides many possible reasons why this might be happening, but in my recollection when I read it last month did not come to a definitive conclusion on any single cause.
I should also add that, besides some people moving due to the high cost of housing (given the ability of tech workers and, to a lesser extent recently, wealthy foreign purchasers to outbid “regular folks”), things like the revision of the California Math Framework (which deemphasized acceleration in math classes) has created a lot of anger among local public school parents who normally consider themselves pretty liberal.
David K, when you make claims like this, back them up with links to reliable primary sources.
Lloyd, I provided a primary source in my original comment re the enrollment trends which I am NOT crowing about but view with concern.
The claim I made about the Math Framework to which you are reacting is my personal observation based on attending local school meetings, talking to many neighbors, and seeing their online chatter on Nextdoor. I do not have the personal resources to conduct public opinion polls but have been a supporter of public education and am concerned by what I am seeing (as should readers of this blog). Unfortunately, by the time “reliable primary sources” have documented events, sometimes it is too late to stop the damage. I retain the right to express a personal observation without having to cite a reference.
By the way, I purchased and am part way through your book “Crazy is Normal,” so please be careful not to attack your customer 😉!
What this really seems to be saying is that parents are fed up with the public education system in general, including public charter schools. People are fleeing California for red states and those that remain seem to be look more and more at opting out of the mass public education system in favor of private schools or home schooling.
MjGB,
Many parents have not gotten over their fear of COVID and won’t allow their children to return to any school.
If they choose to go to private school, they should pay for it.
In the states that offer vouchers, very few parents apply for them.
The best thing for our society as a whole is not to destroy public schools, but to make them the best in the world.
Vouchers and charters divide up the pie, and often exclude children with the greatest needs.
Thus, the public schools are left to educate the vast majority of children with less funding.
Well said!
For me it has been frustrating to have to fight just to save public schools and not to have the chance to work for improving schooling. I feel that the misguided accountability pressure on teachers and students since the 1990s has taken the joy out of teaching and learning. However, there is hardly any space to discuss these issues and how to improve classroom practices.
yes, it is depressing to see how far the Education Overton Window has shifted in only ten years: we used to speak out about ridding schools of testing reforms as a means of bringing back better education, and now we are speaking more often simply about the hope of keeping public schools open and a viable option
I agree the best for our society is not to destroy public schools, but they are not the best in the world, they are are not even the best in North American, and net even in the top 10 based on PISA. Those with the means, and who are concerned about their children are always going to choose the school they desire. Generally, that is not the public school. So yes, the public schools are left to education who is left. Based on a per pupil funding scheme, as most states fund schools, when children leave a public school for a non public school, much of their funding remains with the public school, therefore while total funding may decrease, per pupil funding increases.
When you say those who chose private school should pay for it, that’s fine, but you are eliminating opportunity for the vast majority of children. Also, yes very few parents apply for them because there are very few vouchers available. The funding is often limited, and therefore parents cannot afford to make up the difference in cost of attendance.
One of my fellow retiree friends said, “Remember when there was joy in teaching.” Now it is about testing and data collection.
MjGB. Who gave you the right to say what parents are thinking? Go away alleged MAGA Head.
Now, I can offer evidence to back up the fact that the vast majority of parents like and support their public schools to prove that your opinion is not accurate.
“The education culture war is raging. But for most parents, it’s background noise”
“By wide margins – and regardless of their political affiliation – parents express satisfaction with their children’s schools and what is being taught in them.”
https://www.npr.org/2022/04/29/1094782769/parent-poll-school-culture-wars
Can we trust what NPR reports? The answer is YES!
“Overall, we rate NPR (National Public Radio) Left-Center Biased based on story selection that leans slightly left and High for factual reporting due to thorough sourcing and accurate news reporting.”
https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/npr/
The only numbers in these public school approval surveys/polls that count are the ones from the parents of children that are attending local schools. What anyone thinks of the country’s public schools, instead of local schools they have first hand experience with is often influenced by extreme right, hate-filled liars like Tucker Carlson.
Here we have another example of an over the top, highly partisan argument based on insults and personal attacks. I have the right to express an opinion as much as you do. I have the facts on my side. The article supports what I said.
I never said that most parents do not like and support public schools. What I said was that more and more are leaving, that is not debatable. Why they are leaving is. But that is not what you are saying.
I also never mentioned NPR, however, there are numerous sources that are much better then NPR. Some are media, others are actual research oriented organizations which may or may not be partisan. Some would reach the same conclusion as NPR, others would not. If you really want to go there, the more important question really is.. “if given a choice, would you choose to send your child to an alternative charter or private school using a government voucher?” If you are hung up on vouchers, just as the question: “If given the choice, would you send your child to an alternative charter or magnet school?” Those are public schools, though they are likely not the traditional neighborhood school I assume you are referencing.
For example:
https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2018/08/school-choice-gaining-popularity/568063/
https://www.manhattan-institute.org/school-choice-public-opinion-five-battleground-states
https://reason.org/commentary/evidence-clearly-supports-school-choice/
Need I go on?
You say that the only numbers in these public school approval surveys/ polls that count are the ones from the parents of children that are attending local schools. I disagree. Most households that pay for public education do not have school age children in K-12 schools. See:
https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d13/tables/dt13_102.20.asp
Like it or not, they have a voice. Fortunately, most believe in public education, as do I. I simply want good public education There are too many places that is not happening. Public schools are very good in places like Boston, while they are not good in the urban core of many other cities. That is not necessarily a money issue and is definitely not, in most cases because teachers are bad. Most teachers are dedicated and want what is best for their students. I’m sure you were an excellent teacher. The problem is structural. The structure of mass education that relies on standardized testing is killing the public schools. It fails to consider historical housing discrimination and other factors that contribute to disparity in schools.
Lloyd….. I know for a fact that the private schools in my part of the US are filling up. I pulled my 2nd and put him into private HS 4 yrs ago. This was a good decision for our family and we pay for it (the school doesn’t take the state vouchers nor would we use them). His 1st year 80 kids were denied entry and this year over 300 boys were turned away for 9th grade. It’s the same in the other private schools in the area. Talk to parents and they will tell you that they dislike the CC curriculum, the over testing, the data collection via SEL/surveys/questionnaires and over crowded classrooms. Covid played a part when parents really got to see first hand what was and was not being taught during those numerous hours in front of a screen.
When public schools improve and say “no thank you” to all the deforms and corporate ed speak, parents will be happy to return.
Lisa, what part of the U.S. are you referring to? My comments above about the math framework relate to the SF Bay Area. I despise Fox News but I fear that the progressives on the Math Framework committee are overplaying their hand, introducing too much politics and social engineering into K-12 education, and as a result are aggravating parents who are often the most active in support (both in volunteer time and in terms of financial contributions)
(accidentally sent the previous remark prematurely, to continue): I will be the first to admit that disadvantaged groups in this country have a long list of completely justified grievances. I remain concerned, however, that legitimate progressive attempts to rectify these problems not drive out the “privileged” students from our public schools.
It is sad that public schools have to deal with the entire gamut of society’s problems, but that has become part of the job. Public schools serve to bring this country together, at least to the extent that this is still possible. It would be a major loss to our democracy for public schools to become ghettoes only for the poor and downtrodden.
David….I am in MD just outside of DC. Everything here seems to have a CC theme to it as it’s ALL scripted.
PISA is as invalid as all standardized tests with the added invalidities of translation issues. Using the results for anything is “vain and illusory”, in other words a bunch of crap.
Thank you, Señor Swacker.
Some days bring hopeful news. Today is one.
When I was muddling on through Zoom classes a year ago, charter organizations were ecstatic that everyone was going to leave public schools for charters that they claimed were already set up for online “education”. They didn’t realize that online education wasn’t educational. They didn’t realize that people wouldn’t be leaving public schools for charters.
They didn’t.
People left the coastal cities of California, and they left because the tech industry has made living anywhere near the Pacific Ocean prohibitively expensive. Privatization doesn’t improve life; it degrades life. The solution to the problem of declining enrollment is not privatization. The solution is progressive taxation. The solution is unions. Make the rich not so rich and the lives of the working class better. This is not rocket science. It’s anti-rocketman-billionaire science.
The best news in a long time. The charter school “movement” has never been anything but a scam perpetrated on the American people. All investment must go to the public school system, where ALL children are educated. Of course, that’s just my view after 57 years in public education.