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SALT LAKE CITY -- The number of parents wanting to enroll their kids in charter schools is skyrocketing.
Kara Kerwin, director of development at the Center for Education Reform says, "There is a 21 percent surge of demand for charter schools over last year."
That's nationwide. Here in Utah, 15,000 students are on waiting lists for just 25 of the state's 72 charter schools. Kerwin says the demographic looking into them is changing.
"More and more low-income and minority parents are seeking to move their children from traditional public schools that are chronically failing and underperforming," she says.
Kerwin says there are more than 5,000 charter schools across the country serving 1.5 million students. She says word of mouth is spreading from parents whose children are enrolled to their friends.
"About 78 percent of Americans really strongly believe in this idea of charter schools," she says.
The Center for Education Reform ranks Utah as having the fourth best legislation in the country supporting charter schools.
"Your state Legislature has created a policy environment that allows schools to open to meet the demand of parents and provides pretty equitable funding," Kerwin says.
In 1999, there were only seven charter schools with 390 students between them in Utah. In 2011, 80 schools will be open serving 41,000 kids.
E-mail: pnelson@ksl.com
