New Jersey is one of only five states in the U.S. where enrollment in both traditional district schools and public charter schools has increased during the last five years. Also, the charter sectors in these states are growing faster than district sectors.

That’s according to a new report from the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools called, “Do you Know Where the Children Are? A Five-Year Analysis of Public School Enrollment.”  The top takeaway, based on enrollment figures from state education agencies, is these increases in charter enrollment are not a short-term permutation (courtesy of Covid-19) but a long-term trend. In other words, the popularity of charter schools among parents and students is a feature, not a bug.

Nationally, last year charter schools enrolled 80,000 more students than the previous year—-400,000 over the last five years—which, says the Alliance, makes them “the only part of the public school ecosystem that is not shrinking.” In contrast, traditional school enrollment shrank by almost 1.8 million students. Certainly most parents—80%—enroll their children in their neighborhood district schools but “charter schools are still growing strong.”

In New Jersey, as well as Delaware, D.C., South Carolina, New York, and Washington, enrollment grew in both traditional and charter sectors although in almost every case (exception: D.C.) charter school growth exceeded district growth. 

Here are the New Jersey facts in the Alliance’s report:

• Over the last five years, NJ charter enrollment has increased by 10.23% while enrollment in traditional schools has remained stable (or, more specifically, decreased by 0.12%). 

• Over the last year, NJ charter enrollment has increased by 1.84% and traditional enrollment has increased by 0.41%. The year before, charter enrollment increased by 2.4% and traditional enrollment increased by 0.86%.

• NJ charter school enrollment of white students increased over the last five years by only 198 students because our charter schools are clustered in primarily non-white cities like Newark and Camden. (In school year 2023-24 there were 4,025  white charter school students and 514,270 white traditional school students. Overall, white student enrollment in charters increased by 5.17% and decreased by 10.44% in traditional schools.)

• Over the last five years Black enrollment in charters has increased by 13.69%. Black enrollment in traditional schools has decreased by 2.93%.

• Over the last five years Hispanic student enrollment in charter schools has increased by 5.02%. Hispanic enrollment in traditional schools has increased by 13.4%.

According to the New Jersey Public Charter School Association, currently there are 63,000 students enrolled in NJ charter schools. Of those students, 44% are Black, 41% are Latino, 70% come from low-income households, and 10% are classified as special education students. There are 28,000 students on charter school wait lists.