Did you know that in the first half of 2025, 50 charter schools announced they were closing–some of them without warning? Or that another 218 charter schools closed or never opened during the previous two years?
That’s according to part one of an important, three-part report, Charter School Reckoning, published by the National Center for Charter School Accountability. The first installment, out now and aptly called “Part 1: Decline,” shows “stagnation, retrenchment, and accelerating closures plaguing the charter school sector as it enters its fourth decade.”
As defenders of strong and effective public education, In the Public Interest keeps an eye on its many current threats, as well as successes in fighting back against those threats. Our other free weekly newsletter, the Privatization Report, is a collection of stories in the news in the areas we cover, which includes a section on education-related news. Our recent Privatization Report included a few on charters.
National: law360 reports that “a Delaware bankruptcy judge on Friday allowed Charter School Capital Inc., a company that provides funding for charter schools across the country, to sell its business for $80 million, $15. 5 million of that in cash.” The sale was under Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy code.
Arizona: ABC15 Arizona reports a new “AI-powered charter school” begins operation this school year. “Students will be learning from home and will be guided by a teacher. For two hours, they’ll be learning their core classes and then for the rest of the afternoon, they’ll be learning different life skills. Those courses range from financial literacy to public speaking and more.” [Video, about two minutes]. The model is going nationwide, The New York Times reports, focusing on an Austin school. “To detractors, Ms. Price’s “2 Hour Learning” model and Alpha School are just the latest in a long line of computerized fads that plunk children in front of screens and deny them crucial socialization skills while suppressing their ability to think critically. ‘Students and our country need to be in relationship with other human beings,’ said Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, a teachers’ union. ‘When you have a school that is strictly A.I., it is violating that core precept of the human endeavor and of education.’”
California: ABC10 in Sacramento reports “The entire board of directors overseeing Highlands Community Charter and Technical Schools (HCCTS) announced their resignations Monday, just weeks after an audit by the California State Auditor released its findings on the charter school.”
California: The Los Angeles Times reports that “In a victory for Los Angeles charter schools, [an LA County judge] has struck down a sweeping Los Angeles Unified policy that would have prevented charters—the school of choice for 1 in 5 L.A. public-school students—from using classroom space at nearly 350 campuses.” But “supporters of traditional schools say their campuses need more space to operate an expanded array of programs that help students succeed. They say the old formula for determining what can be handed over to charters is unfair and undermines their work—especially the important efforts of the Black Student Achievement Plan, the priority schools and community schools.”
Florida: A Palm Beach County charter school is set to close, leaving parents and students scrambling. “The closure comes on the heels of a series of poor academic performance reports. CBS12 News reported that the school had received grades below a “C” for three consecutive years. In the 2022-2023 school year, the Academy was rated a D, followed by an F in 2023-2024, and another D in the 2024-2025 school year. These academic struggles seemingly led the school’s administration to make the closure decision just weeks before the new term was set to begin.”
Rhode Island: The Providence City Council has rejected a proposed charter school lease, WPRI reports. “Less than 24 hours before the full City Council was set to hold a vote, Miller released a statement saying she would vote no on the proposed lease Thursday night. ‘Mayor Smiley’s lease proposal attempted to solve two challenges at once – ensuring Providence students with already assigned charter seats have a suitable place to learn and finding a path forward for a vacant historic building,’ Miller said on Wednesday. ‘After careful consideration, I’ve determined that such an arrangement would not be in the best interest of the neighborhood or city. The City Council will not hand the keys of a shuttered public school building to a charter school.’”
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