Education: Trends to Watch for the Future of NYC (2015, homes)

[Aeran]

Charter schools! It's where it's at.

https://www.thecity.nyc/2022/1/14/22...-future-of-nyc

The share of school-age children enrolled in K-12 traditional public schools declined over Bill de Blasio’s two terms as mayor — largely thanks to increased enrollment in charter schools.

Although the city’s declining birth rate created a 3.1% drop in the school-age population during de Blasio’s administration, enrollment in traditional public schools dropped faster.

Excluding the new pre-K and 3K programs de Blasio created, enrollment in Department of Education schools went from 971,857 in the 2014-2015 school year, to 915,293 in the 2019-2020 school year — a 5.8% decrease.

Enrollment dropped further to 880,145 in the 2020-2021 school year — as some families opted for homeschooling or private schools during extended remote learning, or left the city entirely during the pandemic.

Much of the decline can be attributed to an increase in charter school enrollments, which surged from 84,717 at the beginning of de Blasio’s two terms to 138,648. The 53,931 increase is roughly on par with the 56,564 decline in traditional enrollment before the pandemic.

[citylove101]

Interesting story, but needs filling out. For example, there are 50 charters allowed in the city, and all have been taken. So unless the cap on charters is lifted by the state, there are no more charter schools allowed here. (Though I'm unsure how many of those 50 are now actual schools or in process of becoming schools.) Also, many of the best-performing charters, those most in demand, are often co-located in public schools, which gives them little physical space in which to expand. Fights about co-locations go on all the time in every borough. And of course, some NYC charters have been closed over the years for poor performance or other reasons.

There is also no mention here of how many students actually leave a charter they are enrolled in because they are "counseled out" or because the parents see that the educational style of the school is wrong for their child.

The numbers cited in the article are undoubtedly correct. But it leaves a lot out that would more fully explain them. And I don't think it gives any real look into the future number of charter school students or the quality of the education they might get.