Charter Schools: Vital for Colorado’s Vulnerable Students

What We Believe

Charter schools are public schools that offer alternative educational opportunities for students, often focused on a particular style of learning or key topic of interest like the STEM fields, dual-language immersion, or a classical education

While support for charter schools in Colorado is widespread and bipartisan, anti-choice legislators attempt to find creative ways to manufacture unnecessary standards for charter schools with the purpose of shutting them down. Numerous school boards across Colorado have become hostile to charter schools, despite long waiting lists of families who want to join.

While all parents should have the opportunity to choose whether to send their children to the neighborhood district school or to a public charter school, it’s essential for policymakers, school board members, and citizens to understand how vital charter schools are – specifically for Colorado’s most vulnerable students.

Colorado education data demonstrates that minority students, English language learners, and students from impoverished socioeconomic backgrounds thrive when given the opportunity to attend a quality charter school. When the traditional neighborhood school is their only option, their academic performance often falls far below their peers.

This report explores the benefits of public charter schools and why they are vital for Colorado’s most vulnerable students.

Colorado should encourage young adults who no longer view college as the best or most attainable option for their future to see trade schools as a significant alternative and a key opportunity for success. With both the percentage of jobs in the trades and the cost of higher education steadily increasing, trade schools are essential. CTE courses in high school are also an essential pathway to give students the option to explore future opportunities before they apply to college or even to obtain a trade certificate upon graduation from high school.

This report sheds light on the importance of continuing to promote trade schools and CTE education in high school and beyond as quality educational options for Colorado students.

Michael Tsogt

Michael Tsogt is a Policy Analyst at the Advance Colorado Institute. His areas of policy and research include education, budget/fiscal matters, and TABOR. He has testified on a wide range of bills before the Colorado legislature, including a bill proposing education savings accounts for special needs and foster care kids in Colorado. During his undergraduate years, Michael was elected as an Academic Senator for student government, covered sports & entertainment for the student newspaper, and participated in several political fellowships and opportunities, including the Center for the Study of Government and the Individual as a Bastiat Fellow. Prior to COVID interrupting plans, Michael was accepted into a study abroad program at Oxford University where he had intended to study Aristotle and political philosophy for a semester. Michael graduated from the University of Colorado with a degree in political science. He and his wife live in Colorado Springs.

At Advance Colorado, we believe in an education system that puts Colorado parents and students first through a system that emphasizes:

At the heart of Colorado’s school system is school choice, in which our state has been a national trailblazer for decades. – a system that has enjoyed deep, bipartisan support.

What We Do

We craft cutting edge policies that empower parents, taxpayers, and teachers and push back on the status quo interests that resist reform.

Our 2024 Policy Agenda includes several important education reform priorities. Read it HERE

This year, we are leading the charge to protect the school choice rights we currently have – rights that are annually under siege from the education establishment groups that want to eliminate your right to choose the best school for your children. We can secure our rights into the future through a school choice amendment to the Colorado Constitution.

Read our policy brief on this important issue HERE.

What You Can Do

We help citizens become advocates and leaders.

Whether you are a concerned parent, grandparent or taxpayer, Advance Colorado can equip you with the knowledge and tools to be an effective advocate for high quality, accountable schools. Learn more about our ambassador program.

And if you are interested in running to become a member of your local school board, you can apply to participate in the Advance Colorado Academy New Leader program. LINK If you are a current school board member, you can enroll in our “You’ve Won, Now What?” program. Learn more about our “You’ve Won, Now What?” program.