Charter School Myth Buster: True or False?

Charter schools have been part of Missouri’s public education system for more than 25 years, but they’re still one of the most misunderstood school options available to families. Ask five people what a charter school is and you might get five different answers, some accurate, some based on outdated ideas, and some based on myths that just will not go away.

We put together this true or false quiz to set the record straight. Take a guess before you read the answer, then see how you did.

1. True or False: Charter schools are private schools.

False. Charter schools are public schools.

This might be the most common mix up of all. In Missouri, charter schools are nonsectarian, tuition free public schools. They are organized as nonprofit corporations, but their governing board meetings are subject to Missouri’s open meetings law, and the schools themselves are considered quasi-public governmental bodies. That means they operate with public transparency requirements that private schools simply do not have.

Private schools are a completely different legal category. They can charge tuition, can teach religion, and are not required to accept every student who applies. Charter schools cannot do any of those things. If a school is charging your family tuition, it is not a charter school.

2. True or False: If a Missouri charter public school gets more applicants than it has seats, state law requires a random lottery to decide who gets in.

True.

Charter schools are public schools. Under Missouri law, they cannot charge tuition, cannot require an entrance exam or interview, and cannot screen students based on academic performance, income, or ability. Any student who lives in the school’s attendance area can apply.

When more students apply than there are open seats, state law requires a random lottery. Schools are allowed to give limited enrollment preference to siblings of current students, children of school employees, and students in a defined geographic area, but only as long as those preferences do not create schools that are racially or socioeconomically isolated. Everyone else is admitted through a verified random drawing, not hand selected.

This is worth knowing because the opposite myth, that charter schools cherry pick their students, is one of the most persistent ones out there. It is traditional attendance zone boundaries and magnet school entrance criteria that can sort students by address or ability. Charter schools are legally required to be open to any child who applies.

3. True or False: Charter schools do not serve students with disabilities.

False, and they are legally required to do the same job traditional public schools do.

Charter schools must comply with the same federal disability rights laws that apply to every public school in the country, including the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. If a student with an Individualized Education Program applies and the school has an open seat, the school must accept the student and must provide the services the law requires, either directly or through a contract with the local district or another provider.

Charter schools are also required to spell out, as part of their charter application, exactly what special education and related services will be available to students with disabilities. Their sponsors are responsible for monitoring that compliance every year, the same way school districts are held accountable by the state.

Are all charter schools equally strong in special education, just like traditional public schools? No, quality varies. But “charters do not have to serve kids with special needs” is simply not accurate. They are held to the same legal standard as every other public school in Missouri.

4. True or False: Charter schools take money away from public school education.

False. Charter schools are public schools, so public education funding follows students to the charter public school they attend.

Missouri’s school funding formula is built around the student, not the building. State and local per pupil funding is tied to where a child is actually enrolled. When a family chooses a charter school, the funding that would have followed that child to a district school instead follows the child to the charter school they attend. The district is not losing money it was owed, it simply is not funding a student who no longer attends its schools.

This is the same principle that applies when a family moves across town and their child changes districts, or when a student transfers to a different public school under Missouri’s open enrollment law. Funding follows the student. Charter schools also do not receive local property tax revenue or facilities funding the way districts do in most cases, so they are often operating with fewer dollars per student, not more.

5. True or False: A Missouri charter school can lose its charter and be shut down for poor performance in a way most traditional public schools cannot.

True.

Every charter school in Missouri operates under a formal contract with a sponsor, and that sponsor is legally required to monitor academic performance, financial health, and legal compliance every year through an Annual Performance Report. If a charter school shows clear evidence of underperformance for three of the last four school years, or violates the law in a way that puts students or public funds at risk, the sponsor is required to have a policy for revoking the charter.

Unlike a traditional district, where a persistently low performing school might stay open indefinitely, a low performing charter school can lose its charter and close. Sponsors themselves are also evaluated by the state, and a sponsor that fails to meet its responsibilities can lose its ability to sponsor charter schools at all.

This is the piece that surprises people who assume charter schools have less oversight than districts. Charter schools do have more flexibility than districts in areas like curriculum and staffing, but that flexibility is granted in exchange for tighter results based accountability, not less oversight.

So what actually makes charter schools different?

If charter schools are public, tuition free, open to all students, and held accountable the same way districts are, what is the real difference? Independence.

Charter schools operate outside a traditional district’s central office, which gives them the flexibility to build a school around a specific vision instead of a one size fits all model. That is why you will find charter schools running on a year round calendar instead of the traditional nine month schedule, offering longer school days for extra instructional time, or organizing as a single gender school for families who want that option. Others build their entire program around a specific focus, like STEM, the arts, classical education, or project based creativity, in a way that would be much harder to do inside a large district with one standard approach for every building. That freedom to innovate, paired with the accountability to prove it is working, is the actual trade off at the center of the charter school model.

How did you do?

If you got all five right, you already know more about Missouri charter school law than most people. If a myth or two caught you off guard, you are not alone. These misconceptions are common, and that is exactly why they are worth busting.

Have a charter school myth you want us to tackle next? Send it our way.