BURSTCharter school enrollment over the past six years has seen a steady increase, as traditional public schools experience a loss of students, according to new data from the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.
From the 2019-2020 school year to the 2024-2025 academic year, charter schools saw an increase of 14.69 percent, or more than 492,000 students, according to preliminary data from the group. For traditional public schools during this time, enrollment fell by 4.38 percent, or over 1.9 million students.
Charter schools in 2025 hit their highest enrollment numbers ever at more than 3 million students attending the institutions.
Starlee Coleman, president and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, said the increase in charter school interest is the result of a combination of factors, including more interest in alternative school options, political factors and COVID-19 and differences between what charter and public schools can offer.
“Why are parents choosing charter schools? It's two things. One, is safety. Charter schools, overall, if you look just baseline statistics, charter schools are much safer than traditional district schools,” Coleman said.
“And the second thing across the board, and across race, across income, across geography, is rigor. Charter schools offer much more rigorous content where parents feel like their children are going to come out of school prepared for college, for career, for the workforce, for their life after school, in a way that they just do not feel confident anymore in district schools,” she added.
Enrollment rose across racial and ethnic lines for charter schools, with Hispanic enrollment in charter schools increasing the most over the last 6 years at 22.27 percent.
The full report on charter school enrollment will come out in October, but the initial findings confirm the worst fears of public school districts already facing declining enrollment from falling birth rates and more school choice options.