What was the first charter school?
Charter school
According to the Education Commission of the States, "charter schools are semi-autonomous public schools that receive public funds. They operate under a written contract with a state, district or other entity (referred to as an authorizer or sponsor). This contract - or charter - details how the school will be organized and managed, what students will be expected to achieve, and how success will be measured. Many charters are exempt from a variety of laws and regulations affecting other public schools if they continue to meet the terms of their charters."
Minnesota wrote the first charter school law in the United States in 1991. , Minnesota had 165 registered charter schools, with over 41,000 students attending. The first of these to be approved, Bluffview Montessori School in Winona, Minnesota, opened in 1992. The first charter to operate was City Academy in St. Paul. Some specialized Minnesota charter-schools include the Metro Deaf School (1993), Community of Peace Academy (1995), and the Mainstreet School of Performing Arts (2004).
The Renaissance Charter School
The Renaissance Charter School in New York City opened in 1993 and is authorized by the Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education. It houses 550 students in grades kindergarten through high school. It started as a first-generation "New Visions School" sponsored by New Visions for Public Schools. It is located in the Queens neighborhood of Jackson Heights. In 2000 it converted to charter status, one of the first charter schools in New York City. The current principal is Stacey Gauthier.
Hunter, Missouri
In 1913, about the time the town was experiencing rapid growth due to the activities of the Munger Securities Company, the first school in Hunter was established. After the town voted $800.00 in bonds, the Munger Securities Company donated the land for the school building, which was completed in time for the 1913-14 school year. The first term of the Hunter school began on September 7, 1913. Miss Eunice Pace was the school's first teacher.
Leadership High School
Leadership High School is a public charter high school located in San Francisco. Founded in 1997, Leadership or "LHS" was California's first start-up charter high school. The school provides a college-preparatory curriculum and focuses on leadership development and social justice.
Summit Preparatory Charter High School
Summit Preparatory Charter High School also known as Summit Prep, is a college preparatory and charter high school that was founded in 2003. Summit Prep is the first school founded by the charter management organization (CMO) Summit Public Schools, which has eight schools in the San Francisco Bay Area and three in Washington state. It is part of the Sequoia Union High School District.
The Charter School
The Charter School was born out of a need of the local community for the government to provide a good state secondary school in the Dulwich area, due in part to the high concentration of private schools in the area (James Allen's Girls' School, or JAGS; Alleyns; and Dulwich College).. The name of the school was taken from the "Parents Charter" introduced by the Government in 1991 to extend parental choice and raise standards.
Hunter College
Created by the New York State Legislature, Hunter was deemed the only approved institution for those seeking to teach in New York City. The school incorporated an elementary and high school for gifted children, where students practiced teaching. In 1887, a kindergarten was established as well. (Today, the elementary school and the high school still exist at a different location, and are now called the Hunter College Campus Schools.)
Northeastern United States
New England played a prominent role in early American education. Starting in the 17th century, the larger towns in New England opened grammar schools, the forerunner of the modern high school. The first public school in the English colonies was the Boston Latin School, founded in 1635. In 1636, the colonial legislature of Massachusetts founded Harvard College, the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States.
Charter schools in the United States
Minnesota was the first state to pass a charter school law in 1991. California was second, in 1992. , 43 states and the District of Columbia have charter school laws, according to the Center for Education Reform.
Perspectives Charter Schools
In 1993, Day and Shulla-Cose established their own small school within Dyett. They chose the name "Perspectives" to reflect their hope of changing the way their students saw themselves and the world. In 1997, Perspectives became one of the first charter schools in Illinois.
Patrick N. Millsaps
In 2001, six months after he received his bar license, Millsaps filed the first lawsuit on behalf of a charter school against a school district in the state of Georgia. Millsaps represented Stone Mountain Charter School in a lawsuit against the Dekalb County school board over funding which the school claimed it should have and did not receive. The suit's premise was that the Dekalb school board was discriminating against the charter school and breaching the charter school contract by allotting less money per student than other schools in the district. The school board paid to settle the suit, though it denied any wrongdoing, citing the 1998 charter school law that did not provide guidelines for funding.
Eugene School District
Ridgeline Montessori, a K–8 program founded in 2000 as one of Oregon's first charter schools, is a publicly funded school based on Montessori educational philosophy and methods. The Village School, also founded in 2000, describes itself as a holistic, arts-integrated program inspired by Waldorf education. The school board approved a charter for Coburg Community Charter School after Coburg Elementary School, the public school which had existed in the small town of Coburg since the mid-1800s, was closed in 2011 due to low enrollment and a statewide school budget crisis. The curriculum of the Network Charter School, in downtown Eugene, is drawn from an alliance of local businesses and non-profits. Twin Rivers Charter School is the fifth and newest program chartered in the Eugene School District, in operation since 2014. It serves students ages 14–19 in an experiential school environment.
William Penn Charter School
Penn Charter is among the first schools in the United States to offer education to all religions (1689), financial aid (1701), matriculation to girls (1754), and education to all races (1770). The "Charter" in the school's name does not, as might be assumed, mean that it is a modern "charter school". Rather, it is a reference to the historic document that was signed by William Penn to establish the first Quaker school in America. Originally located on the east side of Fourth Street below Chestnut, the school officially consolidated in 1874 as an all-boys college preparatory school at 12th and Market Streets. Penn Charter moved to its current forty-seven acre East Falls campus in 1925. In 1980 the school became fully co-educational by allowing girls to continue past the second grade, thus graduating the first co-ed senior class in 1992.
Baxter Academy for Technology and Science
Baxter Academy for Technology and Science is a charter school serving grades 9–12 located in Portland, Maine. Established in 2013, it is Maine's first charter school. the school has around 400 students. Its first senior class graduated in June 2016.
Education in Saint Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul, Minnesota contains many educational institutions. A number of educational "firsts" have happened in Saint Paul. Hamline University, the first and oldest college in Minnesota, was founded in Saint Paul in 1854. In 1991 Minnesota became the first state in the United States to pass legislation allowing the existence of charter schools. The following year, the first charter school in the nation, City Academy High School, was established in Saint Paul. The oldest library in Minnesota, the Minnesota State Law Library, was opened in 1849.
Wyatt Tee Walker
Frustrated by the perpetual failure of the traditional public schools in Harlem and other underserved neighborhoods, Walker helped organize the passage of New York State's charter school law in 1998.
In 1999, he joined with businessman-philanthropist Steve Klinsky to found the first ever charter school in New York State, now named the Sisulu-Walker Charter School of Harlem in honor of Walter Sisulu (Nelson Mandela's ally) and Dr. Walker. This school was one of just three New York charter schools to open in the law's first year of 1999, and is the only one from that year to survive. The school is community-run and has substantially outperformed the traditional public schools in Harlem's District 5, where most of the school's students live. The founding and history of Sisulu-Walker was described in the book "A Light Shines In Harlem" by Mary Bounds, which won the Phillis Wheatly Prize for best non-fiction work in 2015. Walker wrote the forward for that book.
Walker continues to support charter school reform from his home in Virginia. In 2016, he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Charter School Alliance. This award had only been given once before: to President Bill Clinton.
In September 2016, Walker gave an exclusive interview to RealClearLife.com where he stressed his support for charter schools as a key civil rights issue of our time, and where he stated his strong belief that Dr. King would have supported charter schools as well.
Charter schools in the United States
As originally conceived, the ideal model of a charter school was as a legally and financially autonomous public school (without tuition, religious affiliation, or selective student admissions) that would operate much like a private business—free from many state laws and district regulations, and accountable more for student outcomes rather than for processes or inputs (such as Carnegie Units and teacher certification requirements).
Charterhouse School
Charterhouse is an independent day and boarding school in Godalming, Surrey. Founded by Thomas Sutton in 1611 on the site of the old Carthusian monastery in Charterhouse Square, Smithfield, London, it educates over 800 pupils, aged 13 to 18 years, and is one of the original Great Nine English public schools. Today pupils are still referred to as Carthusians, and ex-pupils as Old Carthusians.
History of Catholic education in the United States
Much more important were schools of New Orleans, under Spanish and French control until 1803. Well-to-do families sent their children to private Catholic schools run by Ursulines and other orders of nuns. The Sisters of the Holy Family brought literacy and training in job skills to both free and enslaved black girls. The earliest continually operating school for girls in the United States is Ursuline Academy in New Orleans. It was founded in 1727 by the Sisters of the Order of Saint Ursula. The Academy graduated the first female pharmacist, and the first woman to contribute a book of literary merit. It contained the first convent. It was the first free school and first retreat center for ladies, and first classes for female African-American slaves, free women of color, and Native Americans. In the Gulf Coast and Mississippi Valley, Ursulines provided the first center of social welfare in the Mississippi Valley, first boarding school in Louisiana and the first school of music in New Orleans.
Success Academy Charter Schools
Eva Moskowitz opened the first Success Academy charter, then Harlem Success Academy, in 2006 with 157 students chosen by lottery. She subsequently opened more schools in Harlem, and then schools in other New York City neighborhoods. The charter schools are funded by taxpayers and philanthropic donations.
Independent school (United Kingdom)
Some independent schools are particularly old, such as The King's School, Canterbury (founded 597), The King's School, Rochester (founded 604), St Peter's School, York (founded c. 627), Sherborne School (founded c. 710, refounded 1550 by Edward VI), Warwick School (c. 914), The King's School, Ely (c. 970) and St Albans School (948). These schools were founded as part of the church and were under their complete dominion. However, it was during the late 14th & early 15th centuries that the first schools, independent of the church, were founded. Winchester & Oswestry were the first of their kind and paved the way for the establishment of the modern "Public school". These were often established for male scholars from poor or disadvantaged backgrounds; however, English law has always regarded education as a charitable end in itself, irrespective of poverty. For instance, the Queen's Scholarships founded at Westminster in 1560, are for "the sons of decay'd gentlemen".
San Carlos Charter Learning Center
The San Carlos Charter Learning Center (SCCLC) is a charter school in San Carlos, California, United States. It was the first charter school in California and the second in the nation. It was created in 1994.
Life School
Life School became the first charter school in Texas to access Permanent School Funding. This took place in 2014 after the Texas State Board of Education expanded such funding to include charter schools. It eliminated its high rate of financing with the Permanent Education Fund now guaranteeing its bonds. Life School sold approximately $100 million in tax-exempt and taxable bonds to refund debt and build a new high school, which it broke ground for in 2014. Located in Waxahachie, Texas, the school is 125,000 square feet and has educational facilities that include science labs, computer labs, athletic practice fields and extracurricular activities. The high school campus is also Life School's seventh campus, with the school saving approximately $13 million through its first bond sale guaranteed by the Permanent School Fund.
Hampton Roads
America's first free public schools, the Syms and Eaton free schools (later combined as Syms-Eaton Academy), were established in Hampton in 1634 and 1659 respectively. The Syms-Eaton Academy was later renamed Hampton Academy and in 1852 became part of the public school system, thus Hampton High School lays claim to being the oldest public school in the United States. The trust fund created from the Syms and Eaton donations has remained intact since the 17th century and was incorporated into support for the Hampton public school system.
Oakland Charter Academy
In the fall 1993 the school opened as Jingletown Charter School. It was the first charter school in Oakland and one of the first in California. Originally it had the test scores amongst the lowest in the state. In 2004, Jorge Lopez took control of the school. At the time, its Academic Performance Index (API) was 650. Lopez received guidance from Ben Chavis, head of the American Indian Model Schools, and established a system similar to the system of American Indian Public Charter School. In late September 2007 Oakland Charter Academy became the second public school in Oakland to win the National Blue Ribbon award. In spring 2008, the Oakland Charter Academy received an API of 902. Its student body was mostly Hispanic, and the API was over 200 points higher than the average API of Hispanic/Latino middle school students in California. The Oakland Charter Academy API was also over 200 points above the overall scores of all of the middle schools in Oakland.
City Academy High School
Northern States Power eventually donated computers to the school and provided $30,000 in startup money. The predicted annual budget was $200,000. The school received about $120,000 in state education funding, the remainder coming from fundraising efforts. City Academy was modeled after a program called Power League a year before. Plans are for the year-round school to open in August, said Milo Cutter, Power League director. In addition to offering classes in academic subjects, the program offers support groups, counseling, individualized case management, job skills training, community service, and recreational activities. On September 7, 1992, City Academy became the first charter school in the United States to open.
Bard High School Early College
Founded in 2001 as a partnership of the New York City Department of Education and Bard College and funded in part by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Bard High School Early College Manhattan was the first public Bard Early College. However, the early college model and many of the teaching philosophies employed across the Bard Early Colleges were primarily developed at Bard College at Simon's Rock, the oldest and most highly regarded early college entrance program and the only accredited four-year early college to date.
Steve Barr (educator)
As a result, Barr founded his flagship organization, Green Dot Public Schools, and opened his first charter high school, Animo Leadership High School in Lennox, California in 2000. He later opened subsequent schools, including Animo Inglewood in 2002 and Animo Oscar de la Hoya in Boyle Heights in 2004. By the end of Barr's involvement at Green Dot, his organization was operating 20 public schools under his auspice. He left Green Dot in 2009.
Newark Charter School
In April 2012, the Delaware state board of education voted unanimously to allow the addition of a high school, which made Newark Charter the state's first K-12 charter school. Newark Charter High School is located in the former Lear Corporation factory, which made car seats for the now closed Chrysler Newark Assembly plant. There were openings for 162 ninth graders in fall 2013, with another grade added each year.
City View Charter School
City View Charter School is a public charter school in Hillsboro, Oregon, United States. Opened in 2004, the school is authorized by the Hillsboro School District and offers kindergarten through eighth grades. Curriculum is based on the hands-on project based instruction model Expeditionary Learning developed by Outward Bound. City View is the first charter school in Hillsboro and has an approximate enrollment of 149 students. The school is located on Bentley Street in the Brookwood neighborhood where it rents space from the Alliance Bible Church.
Urban Prep Academies
Urban Prep Charter Academy for Young Men - Englewood Campus opened in the fall of 2006 as the United States' first all-male public charter high school. The school's charter was granted in 2005 by the Chicago Board of Education with support from Mayor Richard M. Daley and Chicago Public Schools CEO Arne Duncan's Renaissance 2010 initiative, which aimed to open 100 new schools in Chicago before the year 2010. During its first year of operations, the school was located in the former facility of Chicago Public Schools Robert Lindblom High School. In Fall of 2007, The school relocated to its present home, another CPS facility, at 6201 S. Stewart. Urban Prep shares a building with Team Englewood Community Academy.Urban Prep Academy for Young Men - East Garfield Park was granted approval to operate as a Contract school by the Chicago Board of Education in 2008. The school opened welcomed its first freshman class in September 2009. After operating in a Chicago Public Schools facility shared with Willa Cather Elementary School for two years, East Garfield Park was rechristened as Urban Prep Academies - West Campus and moved to its present location at 1326 W 14th Pl in the fall of 2011. After Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed a law in the summer of 2009 raising the cap on charter schools, Urban Prep Academies applied to the Chicago Board of Education to convert the school's legal status from Contract School to Charter School. The application was approved in the fall of 2009 for the school to occupy Charter status beginning in the 2010-2011 school year.
State College Area School District
The first SCASD public charter school, Wonderland Charter School, began as a kindergarten in 1999 and in the last sixteen years expanded grade by grade to 5th grade and charter school status with over 100 total students in 2016 . Wonderland is routinely cited in legislative records as one of the best charter schools in Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Auditor General’s 2013 Performance Compliance Audit reported Wonderland 100 percent compliant with state charter school law. All prior Auditor General audits of Wonderland also reported 100 percent compliance. In each of the last fifteen years, the students mastered over 95% of their assigned academic objectives. Go here to read about curriculum and methodology: http://www.wonderlandcharter.com/ The SCASD now has four public charter schools: Centre Learning Community (over 100 students) http://www.clccharter.org/, Nittany Valley Charter School (48 students) http://www.nvcs.org/, and Young Scholars of Central Pennsylvania Charter School (344 students) http://new.yscp.org/web3/ Although the SCASD Delta Program (130 students) is not designated a charter school, it has similar attributes. http://www.scasd.org/site/default.aspx?domainid=1444
Massachusetts
In 2018, Massachusetts's overall educational system was ranked the top among all fifty U.S. states by "U.S. News & World Report". Massachusetts was the first state in North America to require municipalities to appoint a teacher or establish a grammar school with the passage of the Massachusetts Education Law of 1647, and 19th century reforms pushed by Horace Mann laid much of the groundwork for contemporary universal public education which was established in 1852. Massachusetts is home to the oldest school in continuous existence in North America (The Roxbury Latin School, founded in 1645), as well as the country's oldest public elementary school (The Mather School, founded in 1639), its oldest high school (Boston Latin School, founded in 1635), its oldest continuously operating boarding school (The Governor's Academy, founded in 1763), its oldest college (Harvard University, founded in 1636), and its oldest women's college (Mount Holyoke College, founded in 1837).
Charter school
Charter schools have gradually become popular since the system was introduced in 1996. The United States Department of Education defined these institutions as “public schools that do not charge tuition fees established through a charter or agreement between the school and local district school board.” Through said accord, the charter school gets more autonomy proportional to conventional public schools in exchange for the higher level of accountability.
Charter colony
Charter colony is one of three classes of colonial government established in the 17th century English colonies in North America, the other classes being proprietary colony and royal colony. These colonies were operated under a corporate charter given by the crown. The colonies of Virginia, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts Bay were at one time or another charter colonies. The crown might revoke a charter and convert the colony into a crown colony. In a charter colony, Britain granted a charter to the colonial government establishing the rules under which the colony was to be governed. The charters of Rhode Island and Connecticut granted the colonists significantly more political liberty than other colonies. Rhode Island and Connecticut continued to use their colonial charters as their State constitutions after the American Revolution.
Charter schools in the United States
The U.S. Department of Education's 1997 First Year Report, part of a four-year national study on charters, was based on interviews of 225 charter schools in 10 states. The report found charters tended to be small (fewer than 200 students) and represented primarily new schools, though some schools had converted to charter status. Charter schools often tended to exist in urban locations, rather than rural. This study also found enormous variation among states. Charter schools tended to be somewhat more racially diverse, and to enroll slightly fewer students with special needs or limited English proficiency than the average schools in their state.
Education in Virginia
The Syms School was founded in 1635, as the first free school in the Americas, but this was not the first attempt at establishing an education system. The first attempt was a move in 1619-1620 by the London Company to begin a school to educate Indian children in Christianity. The second attempt, known as the "East India School", was meant to educate white children in the colony of Virginia. During the colonial period, Virginia was one of the first colonies to establish schools and colleges, such as The College of William and Mary in 1693.
Francis W. Parker Charter Essential School
Parker was one of the first charter schools created under the Massachusetts Education Reform Act of 1993. Started by area parents and teachers, it received its charter on March 15, 1994, opening for the 1995–1996 school year as an Essential School dedicated to the principles of the Coalition of Essential Schools. CES founder Ted Sizer was involved in its founding, and he served as co-principal with his wife Nancy in the 1998–1999 school year. Every five years the school is reviewed by the state to see whether the school's charter should be renewed. Parker's charter was renewed in 2014. In 1999, the New England Association of Schools and Colleges selected Parker as a "candidate member school" for accreditation, and it was accredited in 2002.
State school
Although the first kindergarten in the world was opened in 1840 by Friedrich Wilhelm August Fröbel in the German town of Bad Blankenburg, and the term kindergarten is even a loanword from the German language, they are not part of the German school system. Article 7 Paragraph 6 of the German constitution (the "Grundgesetz") abolished pre-school as part of the German school system. However, virtually all German kindergartens are public. They are either directly run by municipal governments, or contracted out, most often, to the two largest Christian churches in Germany. These municipal kindergartens are financed by taxes and progressive income-based customer fees, but are not considered part of the public school system.
A German public school does not charge tuition fees. The first stage of the German public school system is the "Grundschule". (Primary School – 1st to 4th grade or, in Berlin and Brandenburg, 1st to 6th grade) After Grundschule (at 10 or 12 years of age), there are four secondary schooling options:
A Gesamtschule largely corresponds to an American high school. However, it offers the same school leaving certificates as the other three types of German secondary schools: the Hauptschulabschluss (school leaving certificate of a Hauptschule after 9th Grade or in Berlin and North Rhine-Westphalia after 10th grade), the Realschulabschluss, also called Mittlere Reife, (school leaving certificate of a Realschule after 10th grade) and Abitur, also called Hochschulreife, after 13th or seldom after 12th grade. Students who graduate from Hauptschule or Realschule continue their schooling at a vocational school until they have full job qualifications.
This type of German school, the "Berufsschule", is generally an upper-secondary public vocational school, controlled by the German federal government. It is part of Germany's dual education system. Students who graduate from a vocational school and students who graduate with good GPA from a Realschule can continue their schooling at another type of German public secondary school, the "Fachoberschule", a vocational high school. The school leaving exam of this type of school, the "Fachhochschulreife", enables the graduate to start studying at a Fachhochschule (polytechnic), and in Hesse also at a university within the state. The Abitur from a Gesamtschule or Gymnasium enables the graduate to start studying at a polytechnic or at a university in all states of Germany.
Charters Towers Central State School
The vacant infants' teaching building was occupied by the new Charters Towers State High School which opened on 22 January 1912 as one of Queensland's first six high schools. In Queensland, governments were slow to establish state secondary education, considering this to be of little relevance to Queensland's primary industry-based economy. It was not until 1912 that the government instituted a high school system, whereby separate high schools were established in major towns or, where the student population was too small, a primary school was expanded to include a "high top". High tops were an economical measure that provided essentially the same education while utilising already established facilities. The first purpose-built high school buildings were constructed in 1917. In Queensland generally, there were few high schools until after World War II, when secondary education was generally accepted as essential and was more widely provided for.
Lift for Life Academy
The Lift For Life Academy building was originally a bank, built in 1903. Marshall Cohen later bought the building to start the first charter school with his goal to start a school so that children could have a future to look up to. Lift For Life Academy opened in 1998 starting with 88 students; it was led by JoAnn Perkins, the first principal. It eventually expanded to a high school in the year of 2008-2009.
Sherwood Park
Sherwood Park was home to Canada's first charter school: New Horizons Charter School, a public charter school that offers a gifted education program for students from kindergarten to grade 9. It is in Sherwood Park on the edge of the Village on the Lake subdivision.
Education in the United States
The charter school movement began in 1990 and have spread rapidly in the United States, members, parents, teachers, and students to allow for the "expression of diverse teaching philosophies and cultural and social life styles."
Charter School (Massachusetts)
Charter schools must follow the same state educational standards, administer the same state tests, and abide by the same laws and regulations as other public schools in the Commonwealth. A charter school application itself serves as the first stage of public accountability, as it is used to determine if the school has been faithful to the charter, particularly with respect to its core mission, academic programs, financial integrity, and record of student achievement. The record on the accountability of Massachusetts charter schools is strong (and stronger than that of district schools).
BlueSky Charter School
BlueSky was the first charter school in Minnesota to be completely online, following on from Mindquest, which was the first online public high school. When BlueSky opened, a law was passed that made online schools have to spend at least two days per week in a traditional classroom with a teacher, but BlueSky was already completely online so it was allowed to stay. The law was later repealed.
The King's (The Cathedral) School
King's School was founded by King Henry VIII in 1541 as the Cathedral School to educate 'twenty poor boys' and is one of seven established, re-endowed or renamed, during the dissolution of the monasteries for the education of "twenty poor boys". To this day the school maintains close links with Peterborough Cathedral. Until 1976 the school was a Church of England grammar school for around 450 boys. 1976 saw the school become both comprehensive and coeducational. Until 1997, however, there remained provision for boys to board. It is one of only three Anglican cathedral schools in the UK to be funded through the state system, the other two being Bristol Cathedral Choir School and The Minster School There are also two state-funded Roman Catholic choir schools: St Edward's College in Liverpool and the London Oratory.
School of Chartres
In the early 11th century, (c. 1020), Bishop Fulbert established Chartres as one of the leading schools in Europe. Although the role of Fulbert himself as a scholar and teacher has been questioned, his administrative ability established the conditions in which the school could flourish.
Milwaukee Public Schools
In 1990, Milwaukee became the first community in the United States to adopt a school voucher program. The program enables students to receive public funding to study at parochial and other private schools free of cost. The 2006−07 school year marked the first time that more than $100 million was paid in vouchers, as 26% of Milwaukee students receive public funding to attend schools outside the MPS system. If the voucher program alone were considered a school district, it would mark the sixth-largest district in Wisconsin.
Under Wisconsin state law, the Milwaukee school board is one of several entities that can authorize charter schools in the city. Other authorities that can authorize charter schools are the Milwaukee City Council, the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, and the Milwaukee Area Technical College Board. The first charter school in Milwaukee was the Highland Community School, a Montessori elementary school authorized by Milwaukee Public Schools in 1996.
Charter school
The Swedish system of "friskolor" ("charter schools") was instituted in 1992. These are publicly funded by school vouchers and can be run by not-for-profits as well as for-profit companies. The schools are restricted: for example, they are prohibited from supplementing the public funds with tuition or other fees; pupils must be admitted on a first-come, first-served basis; and entrance exams are not permitted. There are about 900 charter schools throughout the country.
Charter school
The Canadian province of Alberta enacted legislation in 1994 enabling charter schools. The first charter schools under the new legislation were established in 1995: New Horizons Charter School, Suzuki Charter School, and the Centre for Academic and Personal Excellence. , Alberta remains the only Canadian province that has enabled charter schools.
School choice
The majority of states (and the District of Columbia) have charter school laws. Minnesota was the first state to have a charter school law and the first charter school in the United States, City Academy, opened in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1992.
Seaside, Florida
In 1995 a group of parents and other community members from towns in Walton County, met and discussed how they could improve education within the county. Their discussions focused on making a densely populated school with grades five to eight. In 1996 Seaside Neighborhood School was established. It was Florida's first charter school. The school initially consisted of 50 students and one classroom. In 1998, architect Richard Gibbs designed three white buildings which became the school's site. In order to maintain the small enrollment of children that attend the school, a limited number of students are accepted into each grade. If enrollment exceeds the limit, students names are drawn randomly from a lottery. After the limit has been reached, they continue to pull out names which then creates a school year waiting list. If someone withdraws from the school then the first on the waiting list will be accepted. Children of employees, Board Members, or siblings of current attendees of the school are automatically admitted. In 2013, Seaside Neighborhood School founded a collegiate high school, called Seacoast Collegiate High School. In its inaugural year, it served 80 students in grades 9 and 10. Grade 11 was added in 2014 and grade 12 was added in the fall of 2015. In August 2014, Seaside Neighborhood School also introduced a fifth grade class.
Charter schools in the United States
The basic concept of charter schools is that they exercise increased autonomy in return for greater accountability. They are meant to be held accountable for both academic results and fiscal practices to several groups, including the sponsor that grants them, the parents who choose them, and the public that funds them. Charter schools can theoretically be closed for failing to meet the terms set forth in their charter, but in practice, this can be difficult, divisive, and controversial. One example was the 2003 revocation of the charter for a school called Urban Pioneer in the San Francisco Unified School District, which first came under scrutiny when two students died on a school wilderness outing. An auditor's report found that the school was in financial disarray and posted the lowest test scores of any school in the district except those serving entirely non-English-speakers. It was also accused of academic fraud, graduating students with far fewer than the required credits. There is also the case of California Charter Academy, where a publicly funded but privately run chain of 60 charter schools became insolvent in August 2004, despite a budget of $100 million, which left thousands of children without a school to attend.
Steve Barr (educator)
Barr was influenced by meeting Reed Hastings, education activist and founder of Netflix, and Don Shalvey, the founder of California's first charter school, the San Carlos Learning Center, in Northern California. At an event in 1997, President Bill Clinton announced a federally funded public charter school-grant program.
Charter school
Charter schools in New Zealand, labelled as Partnership schools | kura hourua, were allowed for after an agreement between the National Party and the ACT Party following the 2011 general election. The controversial legislation passed with a five-vote majority. A small number of charter schools started in 2013 and 2014. All cater for students who have struggled in the normal state school system. Most of the students have issues with drugs, alcohol, poor attendance and achievement. Most of the students are Maori or Pacific Islander. One of the schools is set up as a military academy. One of the schools ran into major difficulties within weeks of starting. It is now being run by an executive manager from Child, Youth and Family, a government social welfare organization, together with a commissioner appointed by the Ministry of Education. 36 organizations have applied to start charter schools.
Camp Joseph Scott
The charter system was voted by Los Angeles education supervisors in 2008, when Camp Scott had about 100 female inmates. Camp Joseph Scott was the first facility in the county camp system to establish a charter school education.
Charter schools in the United States
The charter school idea in the United States was originated in 1974 by Ray Budde, a professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Albert Shanker, President of the American Federation of Teachers, embraced the concept in 1988, when he called for the reform of the public schools by establishing "charter schools" or "schools of choice." Gloria Ladson-Billings called him "the first person to publicly propose charter schools." At the time, a few schools already existed that were not called charter schools but embodied some of their principles, such as H-B Woodlawn.
Cesar Chavez Academy
At the same time that Fr. Hanchon and Patrick Irwin were firming up their vision for the school and exploring management companies to operate this potential school, the Michigan Partner for New Education (MPNE), led by educator Bill Coates and businessman Al Taubman. as well as several other business leaders, were seeking an opportunity to establish their first management oversight for a charter school. Prior to this time MPNE had been a quasi-public think tank that advocated for on behalf of charter school issues and concerns across the State of Michigan. Based upon presentations made by MPNE to Fr. Hanchon and Patrick Irwin, a decision was reached to assemble a tentative Board of Directors from the community at large to work toward the establishment of a charter school. Negotiations between the leaders of this initial Board and MPNE progressed quickly, and at the same time, this tentative Cesar Chavez Academy (CCA )Board and the MPNE were able to make a successful overture to Saginaw Valley State University to grant a charter establishing the school. By the close of 1995 an agreement was reached between MPNE, the representatives of Cesar Chavez’s first school board, and Saginaw Valley State University (chartering university of Chavez) to open the school. At the time of this agreement there were relatively few charter schools open, and Cesar Chavez was one of the first handful of charter schools to begin these initial steps toward operations.
Charter schools in New York
Among charter schools are Achievement First charter network, La Cima Elementary Charter School, Democracy Prep charter network, Harlem Children's Zone, Harlem Village Academy charter network, KIPP, Public Prep, Staten Island Community Charter School, and Success Academy Charter Schools. A list of charter schools is available from the Charter Schools Institute. A list of charter and public non charter schools is available from the New York State Education Department.
Academy
In 2000, a form of "independent state schools", called "academies", were introduced in England. They have been compared to US charter schools. They are directly funded from central government rather than through local councils, and are partly privately sponsored. Often the sponsors are from business, but some are sponsored by universities and charities. These schools have greater autonomy than schools run by the local councils. They are usually a type of secondary school, but some are "all through" schools with an integral primary school. Some of the early ones were briefly known as "city academies"—the first such school opening on 10 September 2002 at the Business Academy Bexley.
Palisades Charter High School
Circa 1992 there were so few students that LAUSD was considering closing the school. Pali High parents, principal Merle Price, and Pali High staff decided to advocate for making the school into a charter school. In 1993 the school, along with three feeder elementary schools, received approval from the Los Angeles Board of Education to become a charter school. This was the first time a group of schools in California became charter schools. The school asked students to abide by a behavior code and instituted new academic programs. By 1998 student enrollment recovered: it had 200 students previously attending private schools.
Federal Charter School Program
The term "charter schools" was first brought into the public eye when "delegates to the 1988 national convention of the American Federation of Teachers [had] 'proposed that local school boards and unions jointly develop a procedure that would enable teams of teachers and others to submit and implement proposals to set up their own autonomous public schools within their school buildings...'" Ray Budde had introduced the idea earlier that year in his publication "Education by Charter: Restructuring School Districts," in which he suggested that faculty or administrators could develop charters for specific programs within schools; the idea of developing actual charter schools stemmed from his original proposal. However, Albert Shanker transformed the idea into creating entire charter-based schools while he was president of the American Federation of Teachers, from 1974 to 1997.
The Renaissance Charter School
The school opened with 130 students, grades 4–7, in September 1993, in one wing of JHS 204 in Long Island City. In 1995, it expanded to grades K and 6–9, and moved to the site of the St. Patrick's parish school which had closed the prior year. In 1996, it expanded to grades K–10 and moved into a permanent leased space on 37th Avenue in Jackson Heights, then became the Renaissance Charter School, one of the first five charter schools in New York, in 2000.
Uncommon Schools
The organization first supported the creation of North Star Academy Charter School of Newark, which opened in 1997. North Star was co-founded by Norman Atkins and Jamie Verilli. In 2005, Uncommon formalized its mission as a charter management organization with the goal of starting and managing schools that create college prep opportunities for low-income children. In 2009, the founders of Uncommon, along with those of Achievement First and KIPP created Teacher U at Hunter College. This program was expanded into the Relay Graduate School of Education, an independent graduate school for teachers in these charter management networks to earn degrees.
Mona Davids
A May 5, 2009, article in the "New York Post" reported that Davids, who two months earlier had been fighting against charter schools, was now "leading the charge in the opposite direction — as the founder of the first citywide parent association for charter schools."
Saint Paul Public Schools
In 1993, St. Paul became the first city in the U.S. to sponsor and open a charter school, now found in most states across the nation. Saint Paul is currently home to 21 charter schools.
History of New England
The larger towns in New England opened grammar schools, the forerunner of the modern high school. The most famous was the Boston Latin School, which is still in operation as a public high school. Hopkins School in New Haven, Connecticut was another. By the 1780s, most had been replaced by private academies. By the early 19th century, New England operated a network of elite private high schools (now called "prep schools") typified by Phillips Andover Academy (1778), Phillips Exeter Academy (1781), and Deerfield Academy (1797). They became coeducational in the 1970s and remain highly prestigious in the 21st century.
Harvard College was founded by the colonial legislature in 1636 and named in honor of benefactor John Harvard. Most of the funding came from the colony, but the college began to collect an endowment. Harvard was founded for the purpose of training young men for the ministry, and it won general support from the Puritan colonies. Yale College was founded in 1701 and was relocated to New Haven in 1716. The conservative Puritan ministers of Connecticut had grown dissatisfied with the more liberal theology of Harvard and wanted their own school to train orthodox ministers. Dartmouth College was chartered in 1769 and grew out of a school for Indians; it was moved to Hanover, New Hampshire in 1770. Brown University was founded by Baptists in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. It was the first college in America to admit students from any denominational background.
LEAD Public Schools
LEAD Public Schools is a Nashville-based non-profit organization running a network of charter schools. LEAD was founded in 2007 by Jeremy Kane as the first charter management organization in the state of Tennessee. Since its establishment, LEAD has grown to serve 1,250 students across Nashville. As part of a statewide initiative to improve under-performing schools, LEAD received millions of dollars to expand its reach in the local area. Its growth has been augmented by a partnership with Metro Nashville Public Schools and the Achievement School District, which selected LEAD as the charter operator for turnaround schools in these districts. Chris Barbic, the founder of Yes Prep and the superintendent of the Achievement School District, expressed his thoughts regarding LEAD's results in a public press release.
East Aurora Public School District 131
East Aurora became a charter district on April 30, 1847, and was officially recognized by the state in 1851. The district became the first free school system in Illinois under a special act of legislature in 1851, two years before the state's free school laws passed. That same year, a two-story school was built with Merwin Tabor as principal. The first grade schools were built four years later.
Youth Connection Charter School
Youth Connection Charter School (YCCS) is the largest charter school in the United States. Founded in 1997 it is the only charter school in Illinois that targets dropouts and other at-risk students. In 2010 YCCS served over 3,500 students through 23 campuses throughout Chicago.
Boston Renaissance Charter Public School
The school first opened in 1995; the State of Massachusetts allowed the formation of charter schools in 1993. It was co-founded by several area figures, including the former Horace Mann Foundation executive director, Dr. Robert Gaudet. Its initial location was in Downtown Boston. Edison Schools (now EdisonLearning) operated the school by contract. In its first year it had 637 students in elementary grades. The school administration hoped to have the student body increase up to 1,265 students. Edison Schools hoped to establish a model school so that it could repeat this model in other parts of the U.S. The school administration envisioned that the school would cover grades Kindergarten through 12.
Grossmont Union High School District
In 1998, Helix High School became the district's first charter high school. Steele Canyon became the second charter school on July 1, 2007. Liberty Charter High School was founded in 2008. Although affiliated with GUHSD, Helix High School has its own independent school board. Liberty Charter is operated by Literacy First inc.
Charter School (Massachusetts)
The 1993 Massachusetts Education Reform Act opened the door to charter schools in Massachusetts. Non-profit organizations, universities, teachers and parents can apply to the state's Board of Elementary and Secondary Education for a charter (there are no for-profit charter schools in Massachusetts). Massachusetts charter schools are generally managed by a board of trustees and are independent of local school committees. Like other public schools, charter schools charge no tuition and are funded mostly by sending districts according to formulas set by the state. Massachusetts charter schools have a number of organizational features in common with charter schools in other states. First, they are typically outside local collective bargaining agreements. As a result, they have greater flexibility than traditional public schools when it comes to staffing, compensation, and scheduling.
The increased freedom coupled with increased accountability infuses all aspects of the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's oversight of charter schools, beginning with the rigorous application process that groups must go through to receive a charter. Once the Board of Education has awarded a charter on the basis of a successful Application for a Public School Charter (step 1), the new charter school has the freedom to organize around the core mission, curriculum, theme, or teaching method described in the application. It is allowed to control its own budget and hire (and fire) teachers and staff. In return for this freedom, a charter school must demonstrate good results within five years or risk losing its charter.
Sylvan Heights Science Charter School
On August 31, 1998, Sylvan Heights Science Charter School opened its doors, becoming Harrisburg's first charter school. It had 88 students enrolled in kindergarten through second grade.
C. X. Hansen
C. X. Hansen and Peter Sørensen Vig led the United Church to establish an educational system as a fulfilment of one of its top priorities. Elk Horn Højskole in Elk Horn, Iowa, had been founded in 1878 as the first Danish folk school in America. In 1894, Pastor Kristian Anker, then owner and principal of the Elk Horn Højskole, sold it to the newly formed Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church in North America for use as a seminary and college. Dana College in Blair, Nebraska, was begun as a preparatory school. When the North Church merged with the Blair Church in 1896, the seminary was consolidated with Trinity Seminary in Blair, Nebraska.[1]
Charter school
One could argue, the most radical experimentation with charter schools in the United States occurred in New Orleans, Louisiana in the wake of Hurricane Katrina (2005). the New Orleans Public Schools system was engaged in reforms aimed at decentralizing power away from the pre-Katrina public School Board to individual charter school principals and boards, monitoring charter school performance by granting renewable, five-year operating contracts permitting the closure of those not succeeding, and parents the choice to enroll their children in almost any school in the district. New Orleans is one of two cities in the United States of America where the majority of school students attend charter schools. 78% of all New Orleans schoolchildren studied in charter schools during the 2011–12 school year. , all but five of New Orleans' schools were charter schools rather than public schools.
Sacramento Charter High School
Sacramento Charter High School ("Sac High") is an independent public charter high school located in the Medical Center neighborhood, adjacent to the Alhambra Triangle and Oak Park neighborhoods in Sacramento, California. Its charter was approved by the Sacramento City Unified School District's Board of Trustees on July 21, 2003. The charter school occupies the school site formerly occupied by Sacramento High School, the second oldest high school west of the Mississippi.
Marblehead, Massachusetts
Marblehead Public Schools oversees eight schools: the Bell, Coffin, Eveleth, Gerry, and Glover elementary schools; the Village School (grades 4–6); Marblehead Veterans Middle School; and Marblehead High School. The town is also home to the Marblehead Community Charter Public School, the first Commonwealth charter school to open in Massachusetts. In 2018, Marblehead School Committee announced that Gerry School will be permanently closing.In the 75 years from the American Revolution to the middle of the nineteenth century, Marblehead experienced a golden age of fishing. For the next 50 years, the industry struggled, but from 1900 until the end of the twentieth century, one small anchorage made itself proud. From boat building to sail design, Little Harbor, also known as First Harbor, produced creative men whose innovations helped shape marine history. "", written by Hugh Peabody Bishop and Brenda Bishop Booma tells the story through the eyes of a Marblehead fisherman. Today, the waters of Little Harbor, protected by Trustees of Reservations-owned Crowninshield Island and Priest Island, provide a mecca for human-powered water sports, kayaking and kayak fishing. Little Harbor is located in Old Town, surrounded by Fort Sewell, Burial Hill and Peaches Point.
Prince Henry's Grammar School, Otley
The money for the school originally came from the will of Thomas Cave, a local cloth merchant, in 1603. Thomas Cave left £250 for the establishment of a school in the Parish of Otley on the condition that an equal amount of money was raised by the local community within four years. A Royal Charter was granted by King James I on 30 April 1607, just four days before the deadline laid out in the will expired. The royal charter was granted after a petition by local residents, including Thomas Fairfax and the local vicar, Rev. William Harrison, who became the first school master. A 1610 court case from York shows that the relatives of Thomas Cave and the executors of the will were reluctant to release the money from the will because of the delay in acquiring land for the school, which went against the terms attached to the money in the will. The court found in favour of the parishioners of Otley. The money however still did not arrive in the parish which led to a second court case in 1611 which eventually had the money being obtained and used to buy land for the school. £380 was used to buy land from James and Mary Green near Thirsk, this land was then rented back to the couple and their descendents for a thousand years in exchange for 40 marks a year, which was used to pay wages for the school staff.
City Academy High School
City Academy High School is a charter school in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. The school was created a year after charter school legislation in Minnesota was passed. As a charter school, it operates independently, but is sponsored by the College of St. Catherine. On September 7, 1992, City Academy became the first charter school in the United States to open.
Educational capital
A recent reform in public K-12 is the public support of Charter Schools. Charter schools are supposed to be alternatives to public school such that they provide students with innovative curricula and educational experiences. Since state legislatures began passing charter legislation in the 1990s, nearly 3,000 new schools have been established. Some of these schools are funded by specific businesses, corporations, or individual benefactors that espouse particular ideals or goals for the education of children and youth. Chartering permits schools to "... run independently of the traditional public school system and tailor their programs to community needs." Even though all charter schools are not exceptionally innovative and some schools operate similarly to traditional public schools, policymakers, parents, and educators are looking at chartering as a way to increase educational choice and innovation within the public school system.
Secondary education in the United States
Pressure to allow people and organizations to create new Charter schools developed during the 1980s and were embraced by the American Federation of Teachers in 1988. These would be legally and financially autonomous public school free from many state laws and district regulations, and accountable more for student outcomes rather than for processes or inputs. Minnesota was the first state to pass a charter school law in 1991. By 2009 charter schools were operating in 41 states (and the District of Columbia) and 59% of these had waiting lists.
Charter management organization
Economist Milton Friedman in 1955 proposed that education could be improved by a universal school voucher program. A free market in primary and secondary education would allow consumers (parents) to choose among alternatives, stimulating competition and improvement. In 1974, Ray Budde, a professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, floated the idea of a charter school. 
In 1991, Minnesota enacted legislation that enabled charter schools. Other states followed.
Achievement First
Achievement First is a charter school network in the United States. Achievement First operates schools in Connecticut (beginning with Amistad Academy in New Haven in 1999 along with other schools in New Haven, Bridgeport and Hartford), New York City (beginning in 2005 with schools in Brownsville, Bushwick, Crown Heights and East New York) and Rhode Island.
The Leona Group
In 1996, Cesar Chavez Academy in Detroit, Michigan, was the first charter school to partner with the Leona Group, initially serving students in grades K-5; it now serves more than 2,000 students in all grades on five Detroit campuses. The next year, The Leona Group expanded to Arizona and opened five charter high schools in metro Phoenix; it would relocate its headquarters to Arizona in 2000.
Winona, Minnesota
There is also a relatively diverse variety of K-12 educational opportunities. Run by Independent School District 861, the local public school system includes five elementary schools (three in the city of Winona), the Winona Middle School, and the Winona Senior High School. The Winona Area Catholic Schools system includes St. Mary's primary school, St. Stanislaus Elementary School, Cotter Junior High School, and Cotter Senior High School. There are also other non-preparatory private schools. Bluffview Montessori Charter School, located in Winona, was the first charter Montessori, and the second charter school overall in the United States. There are also two private Lutheran K-8 schools, and Hope Lutheran High School.
Kanu O Ka Aina New Century Charter School
Kanu o ka ʻĀina New Century Public Charter School (KANU) is Hawaii's first native designed and controlled public charter school.
Bob Ehrlich
After pushing through the charter school law in Maryland, Ehrlich oversaw the opening of the first public charter school in the state (Monocacy Valley Montessori Public Charter School). During his administration, 45 new schools were constructed, and an additional 52 schools were fully renovated. His administration invested record funding in Maryland community colleges as well as public historically black colleges in the state.
History of English amateur cricket
Birley recorded that the "sharpest rivalry" in the middle to late 18th century was between old boys of Eton and Westminster, as these were the two oldest public schools. Notable cricketing patrons who attended those schools include the 3rd Duke of Dorset (Winchester), the 4th Earl of Tankerville and the 9th Earl of Winchilsea (both Eton). Their fellow patron Sir Horatio Mann attended Charterhouse School, an indication that cricket was gaining acceptance at many other schools. By 1800, it was firmly established in all public and most grammar schools.
Ánimo Leadership Charter High School
Ánimo Leadership Charter High School (also known as "Ánimo, ALCHS, or Ánimo Leadership") is a public charter school in Inglewood, California, operated by Green Dot Public Schools of Los Angeles. Ánimo was the first Green Dot school to be established, in 2000.
New York Foundling
In 2008, The Foundling opened the Mott Haven Academy Charter School. The first charter school of its kind in the nation, Haven Academy uses a trauma-sensitive curriculum designed to meet the unique educational needs of kids in the child welfare system. One-third of Haven Academy's seats are reserved for scholars in foster care, and another third are reserved for those who receive services to prevent them from entering foster care. Approximately 23 percent of the school's non-foster care population are homeless, returning to a shelter each night after school.
Asheville, North Carolina
Asheville was formerly home to one of the few Sudbury schools in the Southeast, Katuah Sudbury School. It is also home to several charter schools, including Francine Delany New School for Children (one of the first charter schools in North Carolina), ArtSpace Charter School, Invest Collegiate Imagine, and Evergreen Community Charter School, an Outward Bound-Expeditionary Learning School, recognized as one of the most environmentally conscious schools in the country.
Charter schools in North Carolina
North Carolina Charter schools were established by North Carolina House Bill 955 in 1996, also known as the Charter School Act. Charter schools were established in an effort to improve the academic chances and performance of those that were at-risk and those that were academically gifted, but all students eligible for public school are eligible to apply to a charter school. The Act allowed an organization or person could apply to start a charter school. Approved schools are state-funded but managed by a community board instead of a school board. there is a state cap of 100 charter schools total, but the new Republican majority in the North Carolina General Assembly has started a movement to lift the cap.
Henry Ford Academy
Henry Ford Academy is the first charter school in the United States to be developed jointly by a global corporation, public education, and a major nonprofit cultural institution. The school is sponsored by the Ford Motor Company, Wayne County Regional Educational Service Agency and The Henry Ford Museum and admits high school students. It is located in Dearborn, Michigan on the campus of the Henry Ford museum. Enrollment is taken from a lottery in the area and totaled 467 in 2010.
Cate School
Cate School was founded in 1910 by Curtis Wolsey Cate, a 25-year-old graduate of Roxbury Latin School and Harvard University. Originally established in 1910 as the Miramar School, then changed a year later in 1911 to the Santa Barbara School (or SBS), the school opened as a prep school for boys in grades 7 to 12, with its first academic year enrolling 12 students in total. In its early years, the school did not include amenities such as heat, hot water, or electricity, with Mr. Cate continuing to develop the 150 acres of natural landscape he had originally purchased. Despite these initial challenges, SBS celebrated its first graduate, Dohrmann Pischel, in 1914.
New Haven, Connecticut
Hopkins School, a private school, was founded in 1660 and is the fifth-oldest educational institution in the United States. New Haven is home to a number of other private schools as well as public magnet schools, including Metropolitan Business Academy, High School in the Community, Hill Regional Career High School, Co-op High School, New Haven Academy, Edgewood Magnet School, ACES Educational Center for the Arts, the Foote School and the Sound School, all of which draw students from New Haven and suburban towns. New Haven is also home to two Achievement First charter schools, Amistad Academy and Elm City College Prep, and to Common Ground, an environmental charter school.
East Lake Foundation
Established in 2000, as the first charter school in Atlanta Public Schools, Charles R. Drew Charter School is an integral part of the East Lake Foundation’s holistic model for community revitalization. Serving nearly 1,800 students from K-12th grade, Drew’s innovative Project-Based Learning approach with an integration of the STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) curriculum and a strong foundation in literacy helps all students reach their highest potential.
City View Charter School
City View and the district agreed on a three-year contract in January 2004 on condition the school sign a lease for a building by July 1. The contract, signed in February, also called for class sizes of 22 students or less, and allowed the school to open in September 2004 or 2005. By June 2004, the school had around 50 students enrolled and had hired three teachers. That month the school signed a lease to use a former childcare center along Tualatin Valley Highway. The building required a permit to operate a school in a residential area and a waiver for the city's requirement that schools have per 75 students. After receiving approval from the city, the school opened as the first charter school in Hillsboro in September 2004. When it opened, the school had 60 students, with second and third grade combined, and fourth and fifth grade combined, all fit into two classrooms total.
Albert Shanker
In 1988, Shanker was the first to propose charter schools in the U.S. He was inspired by a visit to a public school in Cologne, Germany, in which teams of teachers had considerable control over how the school was run, and about what and how to teach. They stayed with each class of students for six years. The schools were integrated by ethnic and economic origins, and were originally intended to focus on the neediest students, drop-outs and those most likely to drop out soon.
William Harris Rule
The start of free schools can be assigned to Mary Ann Rule. They had both learnt Spanish, and Mary was asked informally to teach a neighbour's child to read. Her first student was joined by her brother and then other Catholics and then Jewish children. Rule was obliged to get himself involved. Rule noted that he (sic) became unawares the "founder of the first charity school in the garrison". The Jews eventually withdrew on religious grounds, and Rule was involved when Lieutenant Governor William Houston set up the first official free school on Flat Bastion Road in 1832 and he sent his own children there.
Curtis High School
Curtis High School, operated by the New York City Department of Education, is one of seven public high schools located in Staten Island, New York City, New York. It was founded on February 9, 1904, the first high school on Staten Island.