Massachusetts charter schools up, traditional public schools down 4% during pandemic

(The Center Square) – A slight uptick in charter school enrollment took place in Massachusetts, a new study shows.

The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools released its…

(The Center Square) – A slight uptick in charter school enrollment took place in Massachusetts, a new study shows.

The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools released its report, “Changing Course: Public School Enrollment Shifts During the Pandemic,” which details the shift in enrollment to charter schools during the COVID-19 pandemic. Enrollment in Massachusetts charter schools is up 1.25%, according to the report; public schools enrollment declined 4.21%.

The organization earlier reported an increase of 240,000 students enrolled in charter schools nationwide during the pandemic and public schools losing more than 3.7 million students. In 41 states with data available, charter schools enrollment increased 7% and public schools had a 3.5% loss.

The year-over-year difference in Massachusetts for 2020-21 was an increase of 600 students, and a loss of 37,863 public school students.

In September 2021, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools published a report titled, “Voting with Their Feet: A State-Level Analysis of Public Charter School and District Public School Trends.” The report says charter schools gained nearly 240,000 students and public schools lost 1.4 million.

Hispanics had the highest enrollment gains in charters. All ethnic groups had losses in public schools.