Charter schools cluster where state law invites them and vanish where it doesn't. Our count of every active public school in the NCES data shows California with the most charters, Washington, D.C. running more than half its schools as charters, and six states with none at all.
Mary Johnson
Alpha School, a billionaire-backed private chain that runs on two hours of AI learning a day and has no certified teachers, is opening in Oklahoma City and Tulsa this August. Tuition is $40,000, nearly double the priciest private school in the state. Here is how it works and why critics are alarmed.
Mary Johnson
Texas advertised up to $30,000 a year in private-school vouchers for students with disabilities. State records show that out of about 28,700 approved students, fewer than 25 got the full amount, and most were awarded less than $20,000.
Mary Johnson
During the pandemic, the federal government made school meals free for every student. That waiver expired in 2022. Since then, nine states have passed their own permanent programs to feed all public school students at no charge, regardless of family income.
Kate Carter
Affluent families are pulling children out of conventional K-12 for microschools, learning pods, and AI-driven academies that compress academics and add life-skills time. The trend is real and growing. The outcome evidence is thin, and access still tracks wealth.
Arthur Chen
Magnet schools are free public schools with a specialized focus, and most of them admit students by lottery or by criteria like test scores and auditions. Here is the plain-English version of how the process works, what the weighted lottery really means, and the handful of moves that actually improve your kid's odds.
Mary Johnson
You do not always have to move to change your child's public school. Open enrollment lets families apply to schools outside their zone, but the rules vary by state and the transportation catch trips up a lot of parents. Here is how it actually works.
Mary Johnson
Charter schools are public schools, but they run under a different set of rules. Here is what that actually changes for your child: admission, funding, accountability, and the one question that tells you whether a charter is worth the switch.
Kate Carter
