Charters lead in growth but lag in ethnicity

State enrollment is up by about 14,000 students — and charter schools account for more than half of the growth.

But in terms of ethnic minority students, charter schools lag.

Utah's 40 school districts are educating 6,300 new students this year, according to the fall enrollment study reported to the State Board of Education Friday.

By comparison, Utah's 51 charter schools added nearly 7,800 students. That's a 67 percent increase from last fall after the opening of 14 new schools. Charter school enrollment is now 19,295.

The statewide increase is 2.8 percent, for a total of 524,000 students. But charter schools' enrollment breakdowns are hardly equal to the school districts'.

Overall, district enrollment is 81 percent whites. Charter schools' is 86 percent whites. Hispanics represent 13 percent of districts' enrollment, vs. just under 7 percent of charter schools' enrollment.

The state's largest charter school, American Leadership Academy, which enrolls more than 1,400, is 92 percent white. And both Paradigm High in Sandy and Spectrum Academy, a school for students with autism, are 98.5 percent white.

Archie Archuleta, chairman of Utah Coalition of La Raza, a nonprofit Latino advocacy group, said a number of minority leaders feel that as a whole charters overlook lower-income and minority students by failing to provide transportation and not doing enough outreach.

Moreover, he said, few charter schools are established in low-income and high-minority areas.

"It's obvious charters are (being built) in areas where they can take the cream of the crop," Archuleta said. "For charter schools, in order to succeed they have to show a high ratio of success, so who will they take? They may not have a racist, anti-poverty bone in their bodies, but that is how it is being done."

Celia Johnson, Paradigm High's chief, questioned why having diverse enrollments should be important in every school.

"Our focus is to bring classical liberal arts education to students," Johnson said.

She said she cares about all students, but unless a charter school's focus is specifically to reach out to at-risk populations, it is criticized.

"Sometimes we leave the other kids high and dry, too — those kids that are trying to get more of an advanced type of education — those kids need attention, too," she said.