Charter Schools in Texas

Law:   Passed in 1995

Rank:   19th strongest of the nation's 40 charter laws

CER Grade:   B

Schools:   221

Students:   60,562

SPONSORSHIP: Although local school boards may approve an unlimited number of charter schools, they account for only 12% of the charters in Texas. The State Board of Education, on the other hand, is limited to approving 120 schools, with no cap on schools serving at-risk students, and has granted 88% of the state's schools. National Charter School Directory 2000.
RIPPLES: The Houston School District is developing 13 contract schools in which personnel and curriculum decisions will be made independent of the district. The district currently has 18 charter schools which are helping to alleviate chronic overcrowding and provide more children with the opportunity to attend school in a better learning environment. Charter Schools Today: The Ripple Effect
MONEY MATTERS: The Financial Foundation for Texas Charter Schools was established to provide capital funds for the early stages of charter schools and has already raised $3.27 million from the Texas banking and business communities. Eighty percent of that is the form of loans and twenty percent in the forms of grants. In 1999, 29 charter schools received loans at six percent (subject to change) for working capital. Solving the Charter School Financing Conundrum

MAKING STRIDES: A new study in Texas that looked at five years of data found that student performance is higher in charters but when researchers look at actual schools as a whole, they have lower-performance. In other words, students are making gains but as a whole, the group of students that attend charters is likely to have lower performance going in. (www.tcer.org) From CER Monthly Letter, Back to School 2002.
FALSE NEGATIVE: Texas charter schools failing? That's what a Texas "right wing watchdog" group is saying. Texas Freedom Network asserts that "the majority of Texas charters suffer from a lack of accountability, poor academic performance, high teacher turnover and mismanagement." But a close look at the numbers and current state audits reveals that only 23 out of 176 are considered low performing, while 44 are acceptable, 6 are exemplary, 15 offer insufficient data as of this point and 23 need peer review. Oh, and 55 are new. A majority are bad? We don't think so. CER Newswire September 27, 2000.

FORWARD PASS, II: At the KIPP Academy in Houston, 100 percent of students passed the reading, math and science portion of the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills in 1999. CER News Alert, May 1, 2000

SERVICE: American Institute for Learning Charter in Austin was named a National Service-Learning Leader School through a presidential initiative that recognizes schools for their excellence in service learning. The school opened in 1996 for grades 9 through 12, and is designed to help drop outs get their GED and develop personal work skills. The Institute also offers a project-based Certificate of Mastery program. Charter Schools Today: A Sampling of Their Successes

FORWARD PASS, I: KIPP Academy, a Houston charter school, boasts the highest passing rates on the Texas assessment test of any middle school in the city. Its students score in the 81st percentile nationwide in math on the Stanford-9, with a student body that is 90 percent Hispanic and 95 percent low-income. Parent Power, May 1999

Links to Texas Charter School Websites .

Association of Charter Educators (ACE) of Texas P.O. Box 684884 Austin, TX 78701	Phone: 512-583-3245 Fax: 512-835-8384
Website: www.aceoftexas.org/ ACE of Texas is non-profit, statewide membership organization serving open-enrollment charter schools.
The Charter School Resource Center of Texas 40 NE Loop 410, Suite 408 San Antonio, TX 78216	Contact: Patsy O'Neill Tel: 210-348-7890 Fax: 210-348-7899 Email: oneillp@texas.net
Website: http://www.charterstexas.org/
The Charter School Resource Center of Texas works to improve education by supporting the formation and successful operation of state and district charter schools. The Center provides information, access to professional expertise, and direct technical support to charter schools at all stages of development and growth.

Texas Education Agency William B. Travis Building 1701 North Congress Avenue Austin, TX 78701-1494	Contact: Dr. Susan Barnes, Charter School Administrator Tel: 512-463-9575
Website: http://www.tea.state.tx.us/charter/