2. Who Attends Charter Schools?
Top Takeaways
- Charter schools serve proportionately more students of color (71.9%) than district schools (55.3%).
- Charter schools serve a higher percentage of lower-income students who are eligible for free and reduced-price lunch (FRPL) (63.4%, compared to 55.8% of district students).
- Hispanic students make up the largest share of charter students (37.4%).
- The 5 states with the most Hispanic charter students are: California, Texas, Florida, Arizona, and New York. The states with the biggest growth in Hispanic charter students are Alabama, Mississippi, Maine, South Carolina, and Idaho.
Charter Schools Consistently Serve More Students of Color
- In the 2023-24 school year, 71.9% of charter school students were students of color, compared to 55.3% of district school students.
- Black and Hispanic students make up most of the students of color in charter schools, comprising 61.2% of the charter student population, compared to 43.1% of the district school population.
- Black and Hispanic students composed 57.1% to 61.2% of the charter school population from 2013-14 to 2023-24. In district schools during the same time frame, these groups of students had, at most, 43.1% of the enrollment.
- Charter schools consistently serve a higher percentage of students who are eligible for free and reduced-price lunch (FRPL). In the 2023-24 school year, 63.4% of charter school students qualified for FRPL compared to 55.8% in district schools.
A Decade of Demographic Shifts in Charter Schools
- In both charter and district schools, the percentage of students who are Asian and of other ethnicities (including American Indian, Alaska Native, Pacific Islander and Hawaiian Native), has increased since the 2013-14 school year, while percentages of Black and White students have decreased slightly.
- Hispanic students in charter schools saw the highest percentage of enrollment growth, increasing from 30% of all charter school students in 2013-14 to 37.4% in 2023-24.
- From 2013-14 to 2023-24, Asian student enrollment in charter schools increased from 3.7% to 4.5% and enrollment of students of other ethnicities increased from 4.3% to 6.1%.
- The percentage of Black students decreased from 27.1% to 23.9%, although the total number of Black students has continued to increase slightly each year.
- White students decreased from 34.9% to 28.1%.
Diverse Populations Surge in Charter Schools, Outpacing District Growth
- The Hispanic student population in charter schools has grown by 28.2% in the last five years (from 1,129,221 to 1,447,453 students), compared to a 3.4% change in district schools.
- Asian students closely follow, with a 26.9% increase in charter population in the last five years (from 137,813 to 174,930 students), compared to a 2.2% change in district schools.
- The group with the greatest change in the last 5 years has been students who identify as 2 or more races, experiencing a 48.7% change (from 131,850 to 194,910 students).
- Although Asian students make up a small subset of all charter students, from 2022-23 to 2023-34, Asian student enrollment grew by 8.5%, compared to a 2.7% growth in district schools.
- Black charter student enrollment grew by 1.8% from 2022-23 to 2023-24, compared to a .3% loss for district schools.
- White students also saw enrollment growth in both the 5 year and 1 year trends, 4.8% and 2.6% respectively, compared to district schools which experienced losses in both timeframes.
For state-by-state breakdowns of charter and district school demographics in the most recent available school year, please see the Tables and Figures section on the National Alliance’s data dashboard.
