Charter Schools Flop - enrollments revealed to be below target
At least four Mississippi charter schools missed FY27 enrollment targets, board told
The Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board's executive director reported this week that at least four charter schools in the state fell short of their projected enrollment for fiscal year 2027, including one that missed its target by nearly 50 percent.
At an Oct. 27 meeting, the director told board members during the executive director's report: "We have at least four schools that did not meet their projected enrollment for FY27. One school that missed it by 36%, one by 35 or 53%, one by 15%, and another school missed their enrollment target by 49%, which was I think over 100 children."
The schools involved were not identified by name during the portion of the meeting reviewed. The director's remarks referenced an "accountability ratings over time" document that was not read into the record and would need to be checked against the reported figures.
Enrollment numbers directly affect how much state funding and other revenue a charter school receives, since that money is tied to student counts. A shortfall as large as 49 percent at one school raises questions about whether that school can sustain its operations going forward. The figures came from the authorizer board's own accounting of the schools it oversees, making the report a rare instance of a state oversight body disclosing enrollment problems within its own portfolio before the data appears elsewhere. No further action by the board was reported during the segment of the meeting reviewed.