The Taos News - Back to School
Trailblazing
Charter schools have grown into a national movement
Charter schools are more and more a popular choice of parents. And they are indeed public schools. Charters are tuition-free and are publicly funded, but independently run.
In most cases, they are governed by a group or organization under a legislative contract (or charter) with the state, district or other entity. These schools are granted greater flexibility in regard to their operations, yet are still held accountable for growing student achievement. Because charters are public schools, they are open to all children; they do not charge tuition; and they do not have special entrance requirements or exams.
Since the the first charter school law was enacted in Minnesota in 1991, charters are now found in 44 states plus the District of Columbia and, according to 2018 National Center for Education Statistics, include approximately 7,000 schools and three million students.
Much of the reason for the growth is because charter schools encourage competition for educational quality, novel teaching, determine their own curricula and programs, typically have small class sizes and are not bound by state regulations concerning scheduling and financial administration.