Original Research by School Decision on Henry Johnson Charter School
Henry Johnson Charter School is a small, independent charter district in Albany County serving kindergarten through fourth grade. The school enrolled a modest student population spread fairly evenly across its five grade levels, with the largest cohort in third grade and the smallest in fourth.
The student body is predominantly Black, with a substantial Hispanic enrollment and smaller populations of multiracial students and other groups. White and Asian students make up a very small share. Data on free-or-reduced-price lunch eligibility and on the count of students with individualized education programs or English learner status were not available, so a parent looking to understand the school's economic composition or the scale of its special-education and language-support services would need to contact the school directly.
State testing results were not available in the data, so the school's proficiency levels cannot be assessed from this report. The school serves grades where state assessments may be limited or absent, which is typical for early-elementary charter schools in New York. A parent wanting to evaluate academic performance would need to request assessment data, progress reports, or other measures directly from the school.
One notable feature of the school's recent trajectory is a publicly reported application in 2024 to renew its charter and expand from grades K-4 to include middle school grades 6 and 8. If approved and carried forward, this would allow families to keep their child at the school through eighth grade rather than having to transfer after fourth grade, a meaningful difference in continuity for households choosing the charter. The school's most recent charter renewal was granted through June 30, 2025, though the outcome of the expansion application was not confirmed in available sources.
Chronic absenteeism at the school was reported in the bottom quartile among Albany County's districts, indicating a notably higher rate than most peers in the county. Per-pupil spending was reported in the lower range for the county. Neither of these figures by itself tells the full story; a parent may want to look into them further with the school, asking about what drives absenteeism patterns and how the school deploys its budget to support student needs.
The school operates as a SUNY-authorized independent charter, meaning it is not part of a traditional public district and depends on periodic charter renewal to continue. For families considering enrollment, especially at the kindergarten or early-grade level, the multi-year pathway and the school's charter status are worth discussing directly with school leadership.
See more original research from School Decision →