First, charter schools are public schools that cannot select their students, and by law, must enroll students based on a lottery system, if their applicant pool exceeds available seats. Unsurprising to us, data still show that charters are committed to educating all students and keeping students IN school.
Charter schools and Milwaukee Public Schools both have concerted efforts to decrease suspensions by working with teachers, students and families at a highly personalized level. Sometimes the issues leading up to a suspension reveal a deeper issue below the surface, and it is only through conscientious intervention that school administrators can mitigate possible suspensions.
While charter schools historically have lower rates of suspension and expulsion than district schools, both charter schools and district schools, overall, have made strides and decreased their suspension rates in recent years. In the 2011-12 school year, the district had a 22% suspension rate compared to charter schools, which had a 13% suspension rate. Since then, the district has reduced suspensions to 13%, and charter schools have reduced the rate to 10%.
We applaud both the charter community and district schools for their continuing efforts to reduce punitive time out of school and increase student success.