What is a Charter School?
The school year is almost over, but if you’re not sending your kids to a public school, it’s already time to start thinking about next year before you miss out and end up on a waiting list, or in the case of charter schools, a lottery.
Charter schools have been in the news for years now, but what exactly are they?
A charter school is publicly funded, but privately run. In exchange for this freedom (from normal regulations and mandates), a charter school must meet certain results, which are set forth in the school’s charter. Hence, the name “charter” school.
Charter schools are popular where the public schools might be undesirable, for some reason. They are not allowed to charge tuition, and admission is usually run through some type of lottery. Some of them have a certain focus: such as science and technology, single-gender education, or the arts. They may be run by non-profits, corporations, universities, or government. All charter schools must be non-sectarian (not affiliated with any religious group).
The charter school idea came about in 1988 and was first proposed by a man named Ray Budde, a professor at U.Mass – Amherst. Minnesota was the first state to seize upon the idea, and passed the first charter school law in 1991. California quickly followed in 1992.
Today, 41 states and Washington, D.C. have charter schools.
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Oh interesting! I’ve always wondered about that.