Local decision-making in school governance. School contracts will be exclusive between the sponsor and the Charter Schools Authority. There will be no requirement for community, parent, student, or staff input through a body such as a school board. After more than 20 years of charter schools in the UK, many local schools have been acquired or merged with large multi-academy organisations. This means that how the school runs and what the school teaches is dictated by an executive board who are often removed from the local community and managing a large number of schools. The largest Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs) in England currently runs 90 schools. The 20 largest MAT’s each run more than 37 schools.
A fully resourced public education system. There is a funding crisis in education. Many schools are not funded adequately to maintain ageing school buildings, let alone build new ones. In November 2023, the government cancelled 100 school building projects in a cost-saving exercise which cut an estimated $2billion investment into education. Ministry of Education reports show that significant investment is needed in school buildings to address asbestos and earthquake resilience issues. Charter schools will divert public education funding to niche projects at the expense of state schools.