Jun. 23—FARGO — For Amber Vogel, the establishment of charter schools in North Dakota can’t happen soon enough.
Her daughter, Abby,
loves the alternative learning style of Fargo Public Schools’ Self-Directed Academy,
which she’ll leave behind when moving on to ninth grade at South High School this fall.
“I don’t have any other high school options besides a traditional public school, which is crazy considering I live in the largest community in the state,” Amber Vogel said.
Those new options are coming, with the North Dakota Legislature’s approval of Senate Bill 2241,
signed by Gov. Kelly Armstrong in late April.
Shelby Doyle, senior VP of policy and national partnerships at the National School Choice Awareness Foundation, said North Dakota has been a “white whale” for public charter schools, finally joining the 46 other states that offer them.
Ironically, its neighbor to the east, Minnesota, was the birthplace of public charter schools more than 30 years ago.
“I have always wondered, has North Dakota ever looked over that border and thought to themselves, ‘That’s interesting,'” Doyle said.
The law takes effect Aug. 1, requiring charter schools to be part of the state’s public education system.
The process to establish them, though, is detailed and includes required timelines for public transparency and accountability, according to Dale Wetzel of the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction.
Several informal inquiries have come in from teachers who are in discussions with potential sponsors in small and mid-size communities, but no formal proposals are yet under review, he said.
Given the time needed to complete rulemaking and implementation, Wetzel said the department does not anticipate a charter school opening for the 2025 — 2026 school year.
Doyle said even so, the charter school timeline could “sneak up” on people.
“If the first ones open their doors in the fall of 2027, the application process will start in 2026. That’s not terribly far away, especially when you’re planning for your child,” she said.
Speaking to The Forum from her organization’s home base in Nashville, Tennessee, Doyle said public charter schools are always open to the public and have no cost of admittance.
They may be set up in community centers, strip malls, former retail stores and converted industrial or office spaces.
They’re similar to traditional public schools, she said, in that they have the same academic assessments, must hire licensed teachers and provide transportation.
But charter schools differ in many important ways.
They’re typically run by a third party, which must have a performance contract with their state on results they plan to deliver for their “charter” to run a public school, she said.
While they’re publicly funded and must accommodate all students, they’re allowed to differentiate their offerings in terms of theme, focus or style of learning.
And, each charter school has its own independent board of directors that deals with day-to-day governance.
Per-pupil state funding follows each student to the charter school at which they’re enrolled.
Doyle said people need not worry about public school districts losing funds by some students moving to charter schools.
“While it can absolutely change the ecosystem … nowhere have we seen just a widespread disappearance of a public school system where charter schools have moved in,” Doyle said.
More than 180 charter schools operate in Minnesota,
she said, making up more than 7% of the K-12 student population. While the majority are located in the Twin Cities area, they are spread across the state, in cities, rural areas and on Native American reservations.
Charter schools closest to Fargo-Moorhead are in Park Rapids and Alexandria.
The Minnesota schools are often focused on science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, as well as those with arts added, or STEAM. Language immersion programs are also popular choices for charter schools, Doyle said.
Charter schools often offer online or hybrid options, as well.
“There was a huge reshuffling nationwide in school choices overall during the pandemic, and that’s been something that stuck,” she said.
Doyle said charter schools will be as good of an option as people in North Dakota make them.
“Nobody is going to just drop charter schools in your community … It’s going to take real grassroots energy for these schools to start and to be successful,” she said.
Vogel said she hopes multiple charter schools pop up as possible choices for her daughter.
“It gives families options to put their child in an environment that makes sense for them to learn in, so it’s all about choice for me,” she said.