WHAT ARE CHARTER PUBLIC SCHOOLS?
Charter public schools, authorized by the Education Reform Act of 1993, are an important part of the Massachusetts public school system. Since the fall of 1995, the Massachusetts charter public school sector has grown from an initial cohort of 15 schools to over 72 programmatically diverse schools across the state.
CHARTER PUBLIC SCHOOLS HAVE GREATER AUTONOMY
Schools operate under five-year “charters” granted by the Commonwealth’s Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. Charter public schools have greater flexibility in how they approach key areas of school life, including:
Curriculum Design
Staffing
Teacher Leadership
Professional Development
School Culture
WHERE ARE CHARTER PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN MASSACHUSETTS?
- Students 50,000 +
- Teachers 3,800 +
- Schools 72
- Urban 37
- Boston 15
- Suburban 14
- Rural 6
charter public schools serve a diverse student population

*Student population data come from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s School and District Profiles. Data from 74 Commonwealth charter public schools are compared to district data across the state from SY 2018-2019.