A Sharp Turn Right: A New Breed of Charter Schools Delivers the Conservative Agenda

This investigation focused on two types of charter schools. The first is classical charter schools. These schools identify and market themselves as such, often including the word "classical" in the school's name. The second type of school offers a "back to basics" curriculum without necessarily identifying the curriculum as classical. These schools include right-wing clues on their website to attract families with Christian nationalist beliefs. The fastest-growing sector of right-wing charters combines both features. These schools are distinguished by a classical "virtuous" curriculum combined with hyper-patriotism for Christian nationalist appeal. The report identifies 273 currently open charter schools that offer a classical curriculum and/or have websites designed to attract white conservative families. Many are part of chains that are feature in the report. For-profit management corporations run twenty-nine percent of these charters, a percentage nearly twice as high as the charter sector as a whole.