Montana receives first round of charter school applications

The Montana Board of Public Education has officially received its first-ever charter school applications.

Montana is one of the few states with no public charter schools. But during this year’s legislative session, state lawmakers approved two types of charters: public charters and community choice schools.

The two models have minor differences but both are public schools by definition and aim to give families more options for their children’s education.

One such difference is that public charters will be overseen by the Montana Board of Public Education (MBPE) while community choice schools are managed by a new Community Choice School Commission.

While the Choice Commission hasn’t started taking applications, the MBPE is going full steam ahead.

After the application deadline passed on Nov. 1, MBPE announced it received 26 charter proposals – and some districts even submitted multiple proposals.

“It looks like those largest districts really went to town with a lot of different ideas and a lot of different proposals,” said Tim Tharp, chair of the MBPE. “It’s going to be very interesting to see what sort of things that they’re proposing.”

The board is slated to discuss the applications in January, and Tharp is rooting for their success.  

“From my personal standpoint, I’m not looking to go into these applications with an intent to deny anybody,” he said. “[We have] a lot of grace and understanding that these school districts are really coming forward with their best efforts.”  

Charter proposals included online, multilingual, Montessori and early college schools.  

A recent study found that students at charter schools attain higher levels of academic success than their peers in traditional public schools.