Are Charters the Best Alternative?

Abstract

Texas has been part of the charter school movement since 1995, when the 74th Texas Legislature authorized the State Board of Education to establish open enrollment (OE) charter schools in the state. According to the Texas Education Agency, in 2010-11 there were 199 OE charter districts operating 482 campuses in Texas, serving 133,697 students, nearly 3% of public school students in the state. Despite the growing role of these alternative schools in the U.S. edcucational system, they are seldom studied. In Working Paper 1606, we provide the first careful empirical study of the costs of alternative education. Their results show charters to be more cost-efficient in providing alternative education compared to traditional public school districts.