A Policy Brief from EPIC

Who Chooses? Charter and Non-Resident School Enrollment in Michigan

June 2019

This policy brief examines patterns of public school choice by students in Michigan. Various forms of school choice have existed in this state since 1993, when charter schools (officially called Public School Academies) were first permitted. Patterns analyzed include overall rates of school choice participation in Michigan and the geographic breakdown of that participation statewide; differences in the characteristics of students attending charter schools, a non-resident district, or the district in which they live; summary statistics of student achievement on Michigan’s M-STEP exam; and the extent to which charter or non-resident students remain in their schools.

KEY FINDINGS INCLUDE:

• Overall, approximately 22% of Michigan students attend either a charter school or a school district in which they do not live.
• Charter and non-resident district enrollment occurs across the state, but charter enrollment is more common in southeast Michigan, in and around Detroit, while the highest rates of non-resident district enrollment are found in south-central, central, and northern Michigan.
• Charter students are disproportionately Black and Economically Disadvantaged; students using Schools of Choice and other local non-resident district choice programs have similar demographics to those attending school in their resident district.
• Outside of Detroit, Black students are especially more likely to use charters when they live in districts where more students are not Black; they are less likely to use non-resident choice in resident districts where more students are also Black.
• White students are more likely to enroll in non-resident districts when their home districts have majority populations of students of color.
• About 60% of students who attended a charter or non-resident school in kindergarten or 1st grade, attended a charter or non-resident district school for the next four years of elementary school as well. Of those who leave a charter or nonresident district, most return to their resident districts for school.
• Students who transfer into a non-resident district and, especially, students who transfer into charters had lower average M-STEP scores than those who remained in their resident districts prior to transferring. This is especially true in districts with high average M-STEP scores.