Idaho Ed News was kind enough to feature my analysis on charter on Schools earlier in the week.

It sparked a heated debate on the status quo of charter schools here in Idaho, particularly if minority students have an equal shot at being successful in the charter schools.

That debate also resulted Idaho Charter School Network’s Communication Coordinator Amy Russell penning an opposition OpEd to the data I highlighted.

I encourage everyone to peruse both viewpoints.  Also, it’s worthwhile to look at the data to see how minority students fare in your local school district.  The data sent to me from information requests through the State Dept. of Education is embedded below.

Keep in mind that any minority population that has fewer than 10 students in the qualifying category is redacted to protect students from the possibility that a single student can be identified; as the data below demonstrates, unfortunately, there are many charters that have this data redacted because they have fewer than 10 minority students in the corresponding area.

After reading both OpEds and looking over the data below, let me know your take on the issue by completing the survey below.  Do you think charter schools student bodies are reflective of the surrounding public school demographics, particularly for minority students such as special education, free/reduced lunch, ethnic minority, and English language learners?

Have a look at the data for yourself.

Free/Reduced Lunch and English Language Learner Data

Ethnic Student Demographic Data

Child Count (Special Education) Data

Total Student Enrollment Data