New Hampshire charter school enrollment up by 8% in a year

Enrollment in New Hampshire’s public constitution colleges grew by 8 p.c over the past faculty yr, in keeping with new figures launched by the NH Division of Schooling. On the similar time, enrollment in public colleges has dropped total.

There are presently 30 public constitution colleges statewide, serving 5,256 college students, up from improve  p.c from 4,850 final yr, in keeping with the NH Division of Schooling. That quantity doesn’t embody on-line training, or full-time VLACS college students, that are anticipated to serve 600 college students this faculty yr.

Between fall 2009 and fall 2019, public constitution faculty enrollment nationwide greater than doubled, from 1.6 million to three.4 million college students, in keeping with the U.S. Division of Schooling.

At current, constitution faculty college students signify barely greater than 3 p.c of New Hampshire’s 161,755 public faculty college students — a complete that’s declined by 10,000 since earlier than the pandemic.

Over the previous 20 years, New Hampshire’s faculty inhabitants has shrunk by nearly 46,000 youngsters. Potential causes embody excessive prices of housing and dwelling and New Hampshire’s low delivery charge, 8.8 per 1,000 — the second lowest within the nation and in New England, the area with the oldest inhabitants and the fewest births per capita.

Three years in the past, New Hampshire was awarded $46 million in grants from the U.S. Division of Schooling to develop this state’s constitution faculty program, with a concentrate on at-risk college students and increasing training improvements.

Since 2020, 5 constitution colleges have opened and 4 have closed. Northeast Woodlands Chartered Public Faculty in Conway opened in 2020. North Star Academy in Ossipee, the second within the Lakes Area, is planning to confess college students in fall 2024.

As tuition-free public colleges licensed by the New Hampshire State Board of Schooling, constitution colleges present a selection for households in search of an inexpensive different to conventional public colleges. They have a tendency to supply small class sizes and methods designed to assist college students attain their private educational potential. Every has a singular focus and relies on wants and pursuits in the neighborhood. Admission is by lottery when the variety of candidates exceeds a college’s obtainable house.

The Academy of Science and Design, a public constitution faculty in Nashua, has a one hundred pc commencement charge. Others that concentrate on youngsters at excessive threat for dropping out could have significantly decrease charges. In response to a report this month from NH DOE, seven of the ten New Hampshire excessive colleges designated as Complete Help and Enchancment colleges had been constitution colleges — colleges with lower than a 67 p.c commencement charge and people within the backside 5 p.c based mostly on measures that embody educational achievement, English language proficiency and fairness.

Public constitution colleges obtain district and state funding based mostly on their enrollment by way of a mixture of federal grants, non-public fundraising and taxpayer {dollars}. Misperceptions linger about whether or not they subtract assist from mainstream public colleges. Underneath the present components, one-third of a college district’s per pupil spending follows a baby to a public constitution faculty, whereas the opposite two-thirds stays within the district, obtainable for conventional public colleges. Which means that, for instance, if a New Hampshire faculty district spends $9,000 per pupil, $3,000 goes to the general public constitution faculty scholar whereas $6,000 stays within the district.

A report in June from the Nationwide Middle for Schooling Statistics, based mostly on information obtainable from 30 states, discovered that between 2007 and 2018, public constitution colleges spent practically 200 p.c to 300 p.c extra on non-salary objects per pupil (together with books, provides, know-how, and instructor coaching) than public non-charter colleges, however the reporting did at all times replicate all faculty ranges.

The NCES report, based mostly on the Civil Rights Information Assortment, discovered that in 2017-2018, per-pupil spending amongst public non-charter colleges fell slightly below the nationwide common of $6,500, in comparison with a median of $8,900 per public constitution faculty scholar.