More than 360,000 Texas students attend a private school or a public charter school this year, compared to the nearly 5 million students enrolled at traditional school districts in Texas. However, public charter schools and private schools are expanding and finding a niche in growing communities such as Northwest Houston.

“When you look at charter schools, they are able to be flexible and innovative, and that’s why they were created: to be more adaptive to the communities they were set out to serve,” said Josie Duckett, vice president for public and governmental relations at the Texas Charter Schools Association.

A new public charter school opened its doors Nov. 14 to serve students in grades 9–12 who are interested in gaining two years of college credit by high school graduation. Responsive Education Solutions, which runs more than 20 charter schools in the state, opened the first Houston location of iSchoolHigh, which will be permanently housed at Lone Star College–University Park in January.

“[Northwest Houston] is a growing area, but it’s an area that doesn’t have a lot of educational options,” said Thomas Terry, director of media relations for Responsive Education Solutions. “Anywhere we go, we’re trying to find opportunities to give kids more options.”

A growing need

In 1999, the year the first charter school opened in Texas, there were 66 charter schools in the state, compared to 437 today, Duckett said.

“Texas is the second fastest growing charter state in the country,” she said. “In proportion to traditional school districts, we are still small; [charter school enrollment] is pushing 3 percent of the overall school population.”

There is a cap of 215 on the number of charters that can be awarded in Texas, but multiple campuses may be opened under one charter. However, since more than 56,000 students statewide are on charter school waiting lists, raising the cap will be a major priority for the TCSA in the next legislative session, Duckett said.

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