D.C. Charter Schools Expel Proportionally More Students Than Public Schools

Using their flexibility to improve the learning environment

The District's public charter schools have expelled students at a far higher rate than the city's traditional public schools in recent years, according to school data, highlighting a key difference between two sectors that compete for the District's students and taxpayer dollars.

D.C. charter schools expelled 676 students in the past three years, while the city's traditional public schools expelled 24, according to a Washington Post review of school data. During the 2011-12 school year, when charters enrolled 41 percent of the city's students, they removed 227 children for discipline violations and had an expulsion rate of 72 per 10,000 students; the District school system removed three and had an expulsion rate of less than 1 per 10,000 students.