The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's Oversight of Charter Schools

This is a state performance audit of how DESE oversaw Massachusetts charter schools from July 1, 2009 through June 30, 2013.

“This report details the audit objectives, scope, methodology, findings, and recommendations for the audit period, July 1, 2009 through June 30, 2013.”

Charter schools involve major public spending, so the auditor reviewed whether the state was overseeing them properly.

“Taxpayer funding, including tuition payments and other funding, associated with Commonwealth charter schools is expected to exceed $516 million for fiscal year 2014.”

If waitlists, school data, and renewal decisions are not reliable, state leaders and families may make choices based on bad information.

“A lack of accurate waitlist information may result in ineffective planning and oversight, as well as policymaking consequences such as an inaccurate assessment of demand when charter school approval, renewal, or expansion applications are considered and when the Legislature makes decisions on changes to existing limitations on the number of charter schools.”

For ordinary families, the report matters because parents, lawmakers, and schools rely on DESE’s data to judge demand, performance, and school quality.

“Without sufficient oversight and monitoring by DESE of the accuracy of schools’ reported data, there is an increased risk that unreliable or inaccurate data will be used by DESE, other state agencies, the Legislature, researchers, parents, and others in their decision-making.”

The auditor found that DESE did many monitoring tasks, but had serious problems with waitlists, data reliability, sharing charter school practices, and some renewal decisions.

“However, our audit identified issues with certain aspects of DESE’s administration of charter schools, including the following:”

The report recommends that DESE improve waitlist tracking, verify reported data, tighten data security, clarify expectations, and apply renewal standards consistently.

“DESE should gather all waitlist information required by law, including student addresses, telephone numbers, and birthdates, in order to develop and maintain accurate consolidated waitlists.”

The report is significant because charter schools were a major part of Massachusetts education policy and had been debated for years.

“The role and success of these charter schools in fulfilling legislatively established educational purposes have been the subject of extensive public debate since provisions for the establishment of charter schools were first included in the Massachusetts Education Reform Act of 1993.”

A Commonwealth charter school is a public charter school that runs separately from the local school district and is managed by its own board.

“Commonwealth charter schools, established as freestanding government entities fully independent of traditional local school districts.”