Charter schools may be the silver lining of America’s declining public education system.
The New York City Charter School Center analyzed the state’s 2025 public school data and found charter schools surpass traditional schools in performance by double digits.
In grades 3-8, for example, 67.5% of charter school students were proficient in reading and 69% in math. But traditional, government-run public schools scored just 56% in reading and 57% in math.
The charter school gap is even more significant for minority students.
When compared to their public-school counterparts, black charter students scored 21 points higher in reading and 26 points higher in math. Hispanic charter students were over 20 points better.
Similar trends were observed among Asian, white, low-income, disabled and English Language Learning students.
While charter schools are public schools – tuition-free and publicly funded – they are governed independently and have more freedom to innovate than a traditional public school.
While this independence arguably contributes to their success, it also makes them a target for public school bureaucrats and leftist politicians, such as New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani.
