The report from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of the Inspector General — focusing on more than $963 million in awards made from 2013 through 2016 — notes that while the law doesn’t require officials to track how many schools open after grants expire, reporting that information would make it easier to gauge the program’s effectiveness.

The report said that without such information, the department, Congress and the public “cannot reach conclusions on whether the [program] increased the number of high-quality charter schools in operation and taxpayers received a worthwhile return on their investments.”

The report comes as the department prepares to announce a new round of funding for applicants under a controversial revision of the program’s guidelines designed to increase transparency and diversity. Opponents say the new rule will limit growth.

The inspector general’s office recommends that the department monitor whether schools remain open after federal funding runs out and improve data collection. Department officials and charter school supporters agreed with some, but not all, of the findings. 

Nina Rees, president and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, said as the charter sector continues to grow, it is important for the department “to have high-quality data on how its grants are supporting it and to support the program in the future where the demand is the greatest.”

The department disagreed with the recommendation that it follow whether schools stay open for two years after grants expire, but said it has already taken steps to improve oversight of grants and hosts “office hours” to help grantees complete performance reports. 

Both the department and Rees noted that the grant program substantially changed during the time period reviewed. Under No Child Left Behind, only states received charter grant funds. The Every Student Succeeds Act,  which included changes that didn’t fully take effect until 2017, expanded the range of agencies and organizations eligible to receive funding, such as governors’ offices and school boards. 

The report noted that as of March 2, 29 of the 94 grantees that received funds during the four-year period still had extensions to spend the money — which means more schools could still open. The report did not reflect that some grantees applied for additional funds to open more schools than originally planned, Rees said.

Critics of charter schools, meanwhile, said the findings back up their concerns about quality control. The Network for Public Education issued that concluded roughly 867,000 students were “displaced when their charter schools closed.”

Carol Burris, executive director of the group, said the Inspector General’s report “exposes the sloppy record-keeping, inaccurate reporting and exaggerated claims made by grantee states and charter management organizations.”

She applauded the Biden administration for its efforts to increase accountability. 

The Inspector General noted that it did not set out to identify issues that may contribute to charter growth or closures. The department addressed the issue, noting that state caps on the number of new charters, limited access to facilities or grantees receiving fewer applications from operators than expected are important to consider.

The report, wrote Mark Washington, deputy assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education,, “does not acknowledge national trends concerning barriers that have constrained charter school growth and expansion.”

The U.S. Department of Education on Wednesday posted two notices for grants under the Charter Schools Program — one for and another for those charter schools. The announcements reflect new rules meant to create more racially diverse schools and increase transparency when for-profit companies are involved in running them. The deadline is Aug. 5, giving states far less than the four months they’ve had to apply in previous years.

The regulations represent a compromise between the Biden administration, which wanted to limit competition between a growing charter sector and traditional schools, and advocates who argued that such schools play an important role in meeting students’ needs after the pandemic.

Karega Rausch, president and CEO of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers, described the new rules as “workable,” but said he remains concerned about a requirement that new charters be racially and socioeconomically diverse — or explain why they’re not. The rule says operators must note how their charter school won’t “hamper, delay or negatively affect any desegregation efforts in the local community.”

The provision “places additional unnecessary and unwarranted burdens on schools proposing to serve large proportions of lower-income students and students of color,” Rausch said. “And there is no clarity on what constitutes a valid desegregation effort and how applicants will know if any effort exists.”

In March, the department posted a draft of the rule for the $440 million program, which provides start-up and expansion funding for charters. It sparked immediate backlash from the charter school community, with advocates arguing that it would squash growth, especially among smaller, independent operators unaffiliated with charter management organizations. Three Democrats in the Senate and a bipartisan group of mayors later joined opposition to the new rule, and charter supporters outside the U.S. Department of Education and the White House May 11, telling the Biden administration to “back off.” Department officials say the rule is meant to increase accountability, prevent charters from closing because of insufficient demand and promote integrated schools.

“We are at our strongest as a nation when we embrace the rich diversity across our country,” Anna Hinton, director of the program at the department, wrote in a Friday about the final version. “Federal resources should not be used to increase racial or socioeconomic segregation and isolation.”

Work from the Century Foundation contributed to the department’s revision. In 2019, the progressive think tank ways the program could increase diversity. While many urban charter schools predominantly serve Black or Hispanic students, others in suburban communities mostly white students, data shows.

Stefan Lallinger, a senior fellow at the organization, said not all charters “take proactive steps” to attract a diverse student body. 

“In some instances, particularly in what are known as ‘white flight academies,’ some charter schools actually exacerbate segregation in a given region,” he said, adding that while the new rules won’t prevent “hypersegregated” schools, they “represent real progress, and signal a growing recognition among education leaders that they should be part of the solution.” 

In her blog post, Hinton said the department recognizes that some charters exist in racially isolated communities and that such schools won’t be “at a competitive disadvantage for funding.”

Carol Burris, executive director of the Network for Public Education, which is critical of charter schools, was the most outspoken in support of changes to the program.

“Unscrupulous individuals who used the program for their enrichment will find it more difficult to do so,” she wrote Monday in , highlighting requirements that charters disclose any contracts with for-profit entities and hold public hearings on proposed schools or expansions.

But in a win for the charter sector, officials won’t force charters to collaborate with district schools in order to receive funding — a requirement included in the original draft — but they still want to encourage partnerships. And they clarified that applicants can demonstrate demand for their programs in multiple ways, including waitlists. 

“The fact that they have taken some of our comments seriously indicates the power of advocacy,” said Nina Rees, CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. But she added that if the added documentation required and the small window to apply “dampens interest” in seeking the funds, that would be “victory for our opponents.”

Yomika Bennett, executive director of the New York Charter Schools Association, was among those who rallied in Washington in May. 

“As far as I’m concerned, we’re not fully heard until the broken education system is fixed,” she said. “School systems in cities across [New York state] and across the country are allowed to fail to educate students year after year, generation after generation. Officials, union bosses and critics attack charters, school choice and fight to keep students trapped in failing district schools.”

Citing the pandemic’s disproportionate impact on Black, Latino and low-income students — and reports that charters were quicker than traditional schools to provide virtual instruction during school shutdowns — Bloomberg’s statement said, “Charter schools can help spread opportunity more equitably to students of all backgrounds nationwide.”

With plans to add 150,000 new seats for students, Bloomberg Philanthropies will award grants to new and existing nonprofit, non-virtual charter schools in 20 metro areas, provide funding to launch new models, and support efforts to create more racial diversity among charter teachers and leaders. Grants can also be used to build and upgrade facilities. 

Michael Petrilli, president of the conservative Thomas B. Fordham Institute, which published on the charter sector’s response during the early months of the pandemic, called the news encouraging and “potentially transformative.”

“The evidence base continues to build showing that urban charter schools are highly effective, and that their growth has positive impacts on students in nearby traditional public schools as well,” he said. “It’s the closest thing we have in education to a win-win proposition. Thank you, Mayor Mike.”

As New York mayor from 2002 to 2013, Bloomberg supported exponential growth in the city’s charter sector, opening more than 150 charter schools. The foundation’s announcement follows recent data showing that during the pandemic, the charter sector has seen its highest period of growth since 2015. Charter schools, however, continue to face criticism from Democrats, who argue they drain resources — and students — from district schools. The Biden administration recommended no increase in funding for the $440 million federal Charter School Program for fiscal year 2022, while the House proposed a $40 million cut from the budget for charters. The Senate has not yet acted on the budget. Some states, such as California, have also taken steps to limit charter growth in recent years. 

Aside from the New York City region, the foundation is not yet confirming the other sites slated to receive grants. But according to the announcement, the cities chosen “offer a strong opportunity for serving the most in-need children coupled with conditions that could facilitate charter growth.” 

James Merriman, CEO of the New York City Charter School Center, which supports new and existing schools, said Bloomberg’s policies, such as allowing charters to co-locate in public school buildings, allowed the sector to flourish. 

“I’m thrilled to see that their focus will be on high quality,” he said. “It’s about having more great schools — not just having charters for the sake of charters.”

In cities such as Los Angeles, however, co-location arrangements have and are among the reasons teachers unions have lobbied against charter growth.

In his , which ran Wednesday, Bloomberg took shots at teachers unions, recalling United Teachers Los Angeles President Cecily Myart-Cruz’s that “kids didn’t lose anything” because of remote learning. 

“What nonsense. How about reading, writing and arithmetic, the critical skills we are funding schools to teach?” Bloomberg wrote, adding that because charter schools generally don’t have union contracts, they have more flexibility and can “create a culture of accountability for student progress week to week that many traditional public schools are missing.”

Carol Burris, executive director of the Network for Public Education and a leading critic of charters, countered Bloomberg’s praise of the charter sector, noting that Success Academy, New York’s largest charter network, last school year. Her two grandchildren, she said, were able to return to in-person learning in district schools.

“I am deeply disappointed that Mr. Bloomberg would take the tragedy of COVID and use it as an excuse to undermine public schools,” she said.

United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew added his concerns that charter schools “pick and choose their students, rather than … take the responsibility to educate children.” He that few students who enrolled in Success Academy in 2007 as first graders remained at the school to be part of its first graduating class.

While the announcement doesn’t mention charter authorizers, it does mention partnering with local and national organizations. Karega Rausch, president and CEO of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers, said there’s room for improvement in the way authorizers evaluate new applications so the process isn’t so “burdensome and bureaucratic” but also ensures a school has a “high chance of doing great things.”

Nina Rees, president and CEO for the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, said Bloomberg’s announcement is timely, not only because of increasing parent demand, but also due to efforts in many states to limit growth and the federal government’s flat funding of the charter program for the past five years.

But Merriman said whether the federal government is supportive of charters is less important than the climate at state and local levels. 

When former President Barack Obama was in office, and John King and Arne Duncan were education secretaries, that “didn’t make a difference to Democrats in statehouses,” he said. 

“Charter policy has always been at the state and local level. That’s what has mattered.”