Back in 2008, President Obama promised to "double funding for the Federal Charter School Program to support the creation of more successful charter schools." Fast forward 8 years, and funding for charter schools has increased, but not by as much as Obama promised.

"Charter school" is an umbrella term for a variety of school types, but they all have certain traits in common:

• As public schools, they offer free tuition, but they don't have to abide by state or school district rules.

• Students choose to enroll in charter schools. This can include random lottery processes when schools are oversubscribed.

• They must meet specific performance standards, outlined in a charter. If the school fails, the agency that authorized the school's existence can close it.

• They receive public funding, but can also accept private donations.

• They are not affiliated with a religion.

During the last year of President George W. Bush's administration, the budget for charter schools was $208 million. In 2016, it was $333.2 million. Despite the $125.2 million increase, that's not a doubling, which would be $416 million.

However, in December 2015 President Obama signed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), replacing No Child Left Behind. This gives the states more power to judge student progress and a program to replicate high-quality charter schools, among other things.

States have to submit accountability plans to the Education Department, and ESSA is scheduled to begin in the 2017-18 school year.

It's too soon to tell how ESSA will affect charter schools in their day-to-day operations, said Gina Mahony, the senior vice president of government relations with the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. But she feels funding will continue to increase annually, although it could vary based on the 2016 presidential election outcome.

Although the funding promise was not met fully, funding for charter schools did increase by $125.2 million and continues to increase. In addition, No Child Left Behind was replaced with the Every Student Succeeds Act, which included measures to increase the number of charter schools. We rate this promise Compromise.

As a candidate in 2008, Barack Obama made a campaign pledge to increase federal support of charter schools.

Before we get into what Obama did and didn't do, let's go over a little background. The umbrella term "charter school” refers to a range of school types, but they have the following traits in common:
 

• They are public schools with free tuition that don't have to abide by state or school district rules. In practice, this might mean non-unionized teachers, different disciplinary rules, longer school days, and a different curriculum, for example.
   
• Students choose to enroll in charter schools, often with a random lottery process when schools get oversubscribed.
   
• In exchange for freedom to operate independent of typical state or district rules, charter schools have specific performance standards they must meet, outlined in a charter. If the school fails, a state or school district -- whichever authorized the school in the first place -- can close it.
   
• Although they receive public funding, they can also accept private donations.
   
• They are not religious institutions.
   

Charter schools have a reputation for being more innovative and responsive to students' needs than traditional public schools, resulting in better student performance. Some research at universities backs up this belief.

Charter schools are a popular idea among education reformers, including the Republican presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, as well as Obama. Despite independent research that questions charter schools as a panacea for struggling public school systems, both national political parties include charter schools in their education platforms.

What Obama promised was to take an existing grant program under President George W. Bush and double its funding.

The chart below shows that hasn't happened.

The red bar represents funding under Bush in his last year ($208 million). The blue bars represent funding during Obama's time, which did increase by 22.5 percent by 2012. Still, that's a far cry from the purple horizontal line -- the requisite $416 million to fulfill this promise.

The Obama administration also used Race to the Top, a separate competitive grant program for states, to encourage the proliferation of high-performing charter schools. That isn't the same as dedicating money directly to charter schools, but it serves an overlapping purpose.

States stood a better chance of receiving Race to the Top grants if they showed they would hold charter schools accountable for progress on metrics such as students' standardized test scores; give charter schools equal access to funding as traditional public schools; and allow school districts to establish charter schools.

In all, the Education Department has spent about $5 billion through Race to the Top so far, with plans to extend another $550 million to school districts (bypassing states as the middlemen).

This is a case where supporters can call Obama a proven champion of charter schools by increasing funding a bit and critics can say he didn't do enough. As our chart shows, Obama the candidate had an ambitious funding goal about 77 percent bigger than what Obama the president actually accomplished. For that we rate this a Promise Broken.

In February 2009, the White House released the outline for its proposed 2010 budget, which pledged an increase in support for "effective charter schools." According to the budget plan, "The President"s Budget will promote successful models of school reform by taking the first major step to fulfilling its commitment to double support for charter schools. The Department of Education will help create new, high-quality charter schools, ensure that States properly monitor and support these schools, and, in the case of chronic underperformance, close existing charter schools."

In April, the White House released more details about the proposed budget, committing $52 million in new funds for the Charter Schools Program, the State Facilities Incentive Grants and the Credit Enhancement for Charter School Facilities Program. That translates to a 25 percent increase in charter school funding from this year.

National Alliance for Public Charter Schools president and CEO Nelson Smith released a statement on May 7, 2009, saying, "President Obama has taken a strong first step toward fulfilling his campaign promise to double federal funding for public charter schools."

"This increased funding, a 25% increase over Fiscal 2009, will provide new resources to start up high-quality public charter schools and help them deal with the difficulties of accessing capital support at the state level," Smith said. "We appreciate the strong statement the President is making here with a large increase in charter school funding at a time when resources are tight."

According to Brooks Garber, federal policy director for the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, it appears as though the president's plan is to increase funding 25 percent a year, so that the promise would be fully fulfilled by the end of his first term.

"The proof will be in the pudding," Garber said.

We note that the president's budget proposal is just that. It needs the support of Congress, and it appears Congress may not be as generous as the president was in his proposed budget. The House has passed an education spending bill that would increase charter school funding by $40 million ($12 million shy of the target 25 percent increase), and the Senate has not yet passed its version.

If the increase comes in at the House number, "somehow, the president would have to make that up in future years to fulfill his campaign pledge," Garber said.

This promise still has a way to go. But Obama did put forward a long-term plan to keep his pledge over the course of his four-year term, and there's still time in the next few years to make up any shortfalls if Congress decides to reduce the proposed increase next year. We think Obama has done enough to move this one to In the Works.