NYC charters outperform public schools by double digits
Charter schools may be the silver lining of America’s declining public education system.
The New York City Charter School Center analyzed the state’s 2025 public school data and found…
Charter schools may be the silver lining of America’s declining public education system.
The New York City Charter School Center analyzed the state’s 2025 public school data and found charter schools surpass traditional schools in performance by double digits.
In grades 3-8, for example, 67.5% of charter school students were proficient in reading and 69% in math. But traditional, government-run public schools scored just 56% in reading and 57% in math.
The charter school gap is even more significant for minority students.
When compared to their public-school counterparts, black charter students scored 21 points higher in reading and 26 points higher in math. Hispanic charter students were over 20 points better.
Similar trends were observed among Asian, white, low-income, disabled and English Language Learning students.
While charter schools are public schools – tuition-free and publicly funded – they are governed independently and have more freedom to innovate than a traditional public school.
While this independence arguably contributes to their success, it also makes them a target for public school bureaucrats and leftist politicians, such as New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani.
During his campaign, Mamdani was critical of the city’s charter schools, arguing they “siphon resources away from public education” and don’t have “real accountability or oversight.”
But the results speak for themselves.
CEO of the NYC Charter School Center James Merriman called charters one of the “single greatest interventions” in K-12 education.
“Families are seeing these results and shifting the dynamics of public education in our city, with more than 15% of NYC’s public school students now attending a charter school,” he said.
“When the charter movement began decades ago, many believed that the gaps in achievement we were seeing would narrow as the sector grew,” he continued. “The latest data proves that this is far from true, and charter students continue to excel.”
Charter enrollment in New York state increased nearly 15% between 2019 and 2024, according to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.
During the same time, traditional public schools decreased by 7%.
National studies have shown charters consistently outperform government-run public schools in core academics.
