Introduction

In November 1992, Colorado voters faced a choice between two competing visions of schooling for the state's children. One initiative on the state ballot that fall called for vouchers that could be used to pay for private school tuition. Another called for a major sales tax increase for the state's public schools.

When the votes were counted, Coloradans had rejected both initiatives. To state leaders, the message seemed clear: Citizens were not ready to give up on public schools in the Centennial State, nor were they satisfied with the status quo. Democrats and Republicans in the Legislature and the state's Democratic governor, Roy Romer, recognized that citizens expected bold action to improve public education in the coming legislative session.

Bold action was just what Coloradans got. The stage was set for a bipartisan compromise in late spring of 1993 on a then-novel school reform model: the creation of independent public charter schools that would be granted significant freedom from state and local regulation in exchange for improved student performance. If the new independent schools did not live up to their end of the bargain, they would be closed and replaced with others. At the time, only two other states had passed charter laws and a handful of charter schools existed in the nation.

The Connect School, Colorado's first charter, opened in downtown Pueblo in the fall of 1993 with about 70 students in grades 6 through 8. Twelve years later, the middle school is still going strong, with its students among the highest scorers in their school dis-trict on Colorado's state student assessments in 2004.1

By the 2004-2005 school year, Colorado had 108 charter schools, accounting for about 6 percent of all public schools in the state. They served more than 36,000 children, or about 5 percent of the state's public school students. Unlike the national averages for charter schools, Colorado's serve smaller percentages of minority and low-income students than traditional public schools, but those gaps are narrowing.

On the whole, Colorado's charters outperform non-charter public schools at the elementary and middle school levels, but underperform at the high school level. Over time, charters have raised student test scores at all levels, including high school, as well as or slightly better than non-charters. These results partially reflect the fact that in the lower grades, charters typically enroll more advantaged children than non-charter schools, while in upper grades the reverse is true. Still, it is worth noting that several Colorado charter schools outperform non-charter schools with similar student populations.

Looking ahead, Colorado charter schools face several challenges if they are to become a more powerful force for positive change in public education. First, they must continue their progress in serving at-risk students. They also must meet increasingly tough federal and state mandates to improve student achievement. Finally, the charter community must strengthen its political support if it is to withstand continued efforts to weaken the state's charter school law.

During the past decade, Colorado has created a viable but relatively small charter movement. Efforts to reach out to at-risk populations, combined with the recent creation of an independent state-level charter school authorizer, promise to make the movement larger and stronger. The challenge now is to expand the movement without sacrificing its commitment to create high-quality public school options that raise the achievement levels of all students.