Texas Specific: FACT: Texas public charter schools are open enrollment, tuition-free, public schools that must admit every student who applies if the school is not at capacity. • If a school is at its enrollment capacity (capacity determined by state contract), students are admitted via a public lottery as required by federal and state law. (Tex. Educ. Code 12.117; 20 U.S.C. 7221i(1)(H) • Charter School Lottery: Under current law, no Texas statute or rule permits “weighted” lotteries to provide preference to at-risk students. Texas law does not allow “cherry-picking” or “skimming”. • Most charter applications only record the name, age and address of applicants. This is in contrast to most magnet schools, where selective admissions processes admit students based in part on a review of past academic performance and conduct. • In accordance with state charter law, a charter school may choose to decline enrollment for a student who was expelled from their prior school for severe disciplinary reasons. Since charters receive no funding for facilities, it would be cost-prohibitive for them to open facilities similar to the alternative facilities used by ISDs to serve students with these serious disciplinary issues. (Tex. Educ. Code 12.111(a)(5)(A) • Texas Charters Serve All Students: The latest demographic information from TEA data (2013) shows that Texas public charter schools, as a percentage of their total enrollment, serve more African-American students, more Hispanic students, more economically disadvantaged students and more at-risk students than traditional ISDs. Public charter schools serve the same percentage of limited English proficient students as traditional ISDs in Texas. Charters serve only slightly fewer special education students, as a percentage, than traditional school district schools.
Posted on: Thu, 21 Aug 2014 21:49:06 +0000
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