A Nation at Risk: The Report that Changed the Arc of Education

Special commissions on education are common, but none have had the same transformational impact as the 18-member National Commission on Excellence in Education. The Commission’s 1983 report, A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform, showed how complacent public education was jeopardizing America’s global competitiveness. This report sparked a new era of reform — an era in which the charter schools idea took shape. 

The Launch of an Idea

A Nation at Risk created a new sense of urgency for improving education. One champion of this was the president of the American Federation of Teachers, Al Shanker. In a 1988 speech, Shanker proposed a bottom-up solution that empowered teachers with new, professional opportunities to best educate their students. The Minnesota Citizens League, led by Ted Kolderie, began building on the "charter idea"and how to put it into effect. 

Minnesota

America’s First Charter Schools Law

Minnesota’s October 1988 Itasca Seminar brought AFT President Al Shanker and others together with state leaders and policymakers. Minnesotans in attendance included the Citizens League’s Ted Kolderie and the sponsor of the state’s open enrollment legislation, state Sen. Ember Reichgott. There, Reichgott became interested in introducing a charter schools bill. This bill failed in 1989 and 1990. A compromise was passed in 1991 that allowed up to eight “outcomes-based” schools to be created.

California

Chartering Spreads Throughout the Nation

In 1992, California became the second state to enact a charter schools law. Sponsored by state Sen. Gary K. Hart, this law was pivotal for the national advancement of chartering because it signaled that this emerging policy could take hold in large, diverse states. The following year, legislatures in five states — Colorado, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Mexico, and Wisconsin — enacted charter laws.

The Business Sector Enters Public Education

Another idea to improve education was emerging alongside the idea of charter schools: bringing business-based principles to public education via a new type of company called an educational management organization (EMO). The first of these was the Edison Project in 1992. Though EMOs have largely yielded to their nonprofit counterparts, National Heritage Academies and Charter Schools USA remain exemplars of quality at scale.

Colorado

Massachusetts

Michigan

New Mexico

Wisconsin

Arizona

Hawaii

Kansas

Alaska

Arkansas

Delaware

Louisiana

New Hampshire

Rhode Island

Texas

Wyoming

Advocates and Implementers Join the Movement

Leaders in the nascent charter schools movement were developing the institutions necessary for sustainability. By 1995, state and national organizations had begun to emerge. These included the Center for Education Reform, the Michigan Resource Center for Charter Schools, and, later, the Charter Friends National Network. Today, the Michigan Resource Center serves the national community as the National Charter Schools Institute.

 Connecticut

District of Columbia

Florida

Illinois

New Jersey

North Carolina

South Carolina

Nevada

Ohio

Pennsylvania

A Presidential Call for Growth

When Arkansas’ democratic Governor Bill Clinton ran for president in 1992, part of his education agenda was charter schools. He advanced this policy in 1994 by helping create a federal Charter Schools Program that funded states to develop new schools. Clinton’s 1997 State of the Union address included a bold goal of creating 3,000 charters by 2000. His support of charters set a precedent that other presidents have followed.

Scaling What Works Through CMOs

Revisions to California’s charter schools law created the opportunity for a new kind of charter organization — multi-school networks now known as Charter Management Organizations (CMOs). These new organizations had some advantages: they brought scale, shared resources, and strategic support to the schools they operated. The nation’s first major CMO, Aspire Public Schools, launched the same year.

Oklahoma

Oregon

Georgia

Idaho

Missouri

New York

Utah

Virginia

Indiana

Iowa

Tennessee

Maryland

One Voice, Many Advocates: The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools

In 2005, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools was founded to unify a growing patchwork of state and local advocates. As more charter schools opened, the need for coordinated policy, research, and messaging became urgent. The Alliance gave the movement a central voice — shaping debates, defending gains, and building coalitions.

Charter Enrollment Tops One Million Students

When the total enrollment for charter schools reached more than one million students in 3,600 schools across 40 states, chartering proved to be both scalable and sustainable. It also represented a pivot in the charter strategy: new schools were opening to replicate success, rather than to solely try new ways to educate students. This was most evident in New Orleans, where national networks were invited to transform the city’s system of schools in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Guam

Mississippi

Chartering in the National Spotlight

The release of Waiting for “Superman” culminated a period of increasingly popular support for charter schools' growth. Support for this was a moment of bipartisan unity in the 2008 presidential campaign. In 2009, President Barack Obama’s Race to the Top grant program prompted many state legislatures to lift caps that limited charter growth. In 2010, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg made an unprecedented $100 million pledge to transform Newark’s public schools, much of it tied to charter growth.

Maine

Alabama

Washington

A Changing Political Climate

By 2016, political and public support for charters began to wane. A high-profile Massachusetts ballot initiative to allow for charter growth decisively failed. Teachers’ unions sharpened their opposition, launching campaigns like “Kids Not Profits.” Support from Democratic leaders cooled — most notably during the 2020 presidential race, when candidate Joe Biden aligned closely with union leaders. Though political support was declining, charter enrollment grew to more than 3.7 million students nationally by the fall of 2021.

Kentucky (funding mechanism required)

Puerto Rico

West Virginia

Resilience, Protest, and Policy Renewal

The COVID era proved charter schools’ value to many families, especially those needing flexible and responsive learning. Enrollment grew — but the Biden Administration proposed regulations to the federal Charter Schools Program that threatened to limit access. In response, thousands of charter parents rallied at the White House in protest. Meanwhile, new data showed strong academic gains, and policy breakthroughs occurred in many states.

Montana

North Dakota

St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School v. Drummond

In April 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in the first case it has taken up about charter schools. Originating from Oklahoma, St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School v. Drummond raised important questions about chartering and the First Amendment. In a 4-4 split, the Court preserved the Oklahoma Supreme Court's decision that prevents religiously affiliated charters from opening in that state.