Some of Texas' Most Crowded Classrooms Are in Charter Schools

Many parents choose charter schools because they like their small-school feel and want to avoid traditional public institutions, with their image of overcrowded classrooms.But an annual report by the Texas Education Agency suggests that those charter campuses have the most crowded classrooms — and by a large margin.The vast majority of about 8,700 public schools in the state had student-to-teacher ratios at or near 22 students for each teacher during the 2016-17 school year. Texas schools must generally maintain that ratio in kindergarten through the fourth grades unless they get a waiver from the TEA. Upper grades don't have state limits.An analysis by The Dallas Morning News found that a surprising number of charter campuses had some of the state’s largest class sizes. More than half of the schools that averaged at least 30 students per classroom were charter schools, even though charters only make up about 7 percent of the state’s public schools.  Continue reading...