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SALT LAKE CITY — Fifteen years after a charter school law was passed in Utah, new research shows an interesting effect on traditional public schools.
Each year a few more charter schools open in Utah, and it's having a positive effect on the traditional public schools nearby.
Mike Martineau in the Department of Economics at the University of Utah conducted the study and said it's basic competition.
"When charter schools come into an education marketplace, they provide incentives to the traditional public schools to increase achievement levels," he said.
Martineau said if they don't, they run the risk of losing enrollment to the charter schools and losing subsequent funding.
If a parent can't come in and say, 'I have an option. I will take my student out if you don't shape up,' those incentives are very different than when parents have no choice.
–Mike Martineau
"If a traditional public school takes its enrollment as exogenous no matter what, there are very few incentives to increase achievement," he said. "If a parent can't come in and say, ‘I have an option. I will take my student out if you don't shape up,' then those incentives are very different than when parents have no choice."
He said the data shows proficiency in math, language arts and science at the traditional public school increased as time went on after a charter or charters opened within a few miles. The effect is even greater the more charters are nearby, and the more time passes.
"All of my measures indicate it's having a positive effect, mostly in the long run," he said.
He also looked deeper into the numbers to see the effect on poorer areas.
"What I found was, the positive results from competition were nearly or more than double that of regular schools. So in effect, the positive competitive effects are much more positive and double in magnitude for students in poor areas," he explained. "Increasing competition in those areas has proven much more beneficial than statewide."
For his study, Martineau looked at kindergarten through sixth grade. The state charter school board and legislators have now talked to him about his research.
