Ch. 6: Smart Charter School Caps: A Third Way on Charter School Growth (HFR '07)

December 2007
Andrew J. Rotherham

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Legislative caps are an issue essential to the continued expansion of charter schools nationally. In many states, the debate has focused on whether there should be a cap on the number of charter schools allowed statewide, in a given locality, or in a particular year. While some constraints on the growth of charter schools make sense from a policy standpoint, author Andrew J. Rotherham questions the common rationale for charter school caps and argues that hard-and-fast caps do not represent sound policy. He recommends that a more defensible approach would be to establish “Smart Caps” to encourage the growth of proven charter models.