Charter schools are a major force in public education and their impact only continues to increase with time.  Regardless of where you sit in the seemingly endless debate pitting "regular" public schools against charters, there is no question that we all need to be well educated on how charters can and will impact their sponsoring districts.  

Here is a recent overview of the California charter movement for your review and consideration: 

California has the highest number of charter schools of any state in the country with 1,130 schools serving over 500,000 students as of fall 2013.

In 2013-14, 104 new charter schools opened in California.

For the 2012-13 school year, there were over 49,000 students on charter school wait lists in CA. This includes more than 15,000 students on wait lists in Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) alone.

Number of Charter Schools Located in Major Districts

Los Angeles Unified School District: 241

San Diego Unified: 55

City of San Jose (Multiple districts): 36

Oakland Unified: 38

San Francisco Unified: 15

Sacramento City Unified: 14

Fresno Unified: 14

San Bernardino City Unified: 14

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Statistics courtesy of the California Charter School Association.