What does 50% charter enrollment look like by grade-level?
In 2020-21, Kansas City finally hit the tipping point between KCPS and KC Charter Public Schools, with KC Charter enrollment reaching 50% (well, 49.7%) of all K-12 public enrollment.
This shift in K-12 enrollment was no doubt accelerated by the coronavirus pandemic – KCPS lost more students between the 2019-20 and 2020-21 school years (-726) than it has in any single year since right-sizing under Superintendent Covington in 2010-11, when enrollment dropped by -1,042 students.
Charter enrollment, which has grown consistently for the past eight years – and which grew in 2021 by +328 students – was driven in part by schools that continue to add new grades. But bringing decision-making down to the school level also enables charter schools to be more agile and responsive to student needs, which no doubt gave them an operational advantage during an exceptionally challenging school year.
But reaching 50/50 enrollment didn’t happen overnight and the fact that we’re here is no surprise: I wrote about the impending tipping point five years ago in my first post on Set the Schools Free, and have been banging the enrollment drum ever since – because enrollment reflects the real choices families are making – not the choices we think they should make. We need to respect these choices, and recognize that they’re telling us something about what parents want from our system of public schools.
These choices also matter because they have real consequences for equity, transparency and accountability in public education in our district, both now and in the future.
So, what does 50/50 enrollment in look like in Kansas City, by grade level? Here’s the big picture:
(Note: You can find these individual graphs, with data and analysis, sprinkled throughout my previous three posts on 2020-21 enrollment data).
In 2017, KC Charter schools enrolled 45% of all K-12 students; by 2021, that number reached 50%. As you can see from the graphs, we’ve hit or surpassed the tipping point in most K-8 grades, with KC Charter enrollment meeting or exceeding KCPS enrollment; in grades 9-12 KCPS continues to have market dominance.
Questions, comments? Feel free to contact me through Set the Schools Free.
