Public Charter Schools

Public charter schools are more autonomous than traditional public schools within a school system. They are public schools in every respect and have varying degrees of freedom and flexibility to operate. Public charter schools remain legally a part of the school system granting the charter. Public charter schools function within parameters of their individual authorizing charters and will provide flexibility in implementing educational programs. A national review of public charter schools indicates that a strong sense of a learning community and parental involvement in creating and administering a public charter school is key to the success of the school. These schools are usually established for a limited term. From the reported experiences of established charter schools, the most common term is from three to five years, with interim benchmarks and accountability deliberations directed toward annual review and continuance.

Renewal of a school's charter may depend on its performance in carrying out the purpose of the charter between the school and the local education authorities. Accountability of both parties to the charter is crucial. Since a public charter school provides an educational option for parents and students, there should be a good match between the student and the charter school.  Each local school system has the freedom to create unique arrangements for their in-district charter schools that enhance learning opportunities for students. This is a challenge that should be viewed as beneficial to the existing public school system and thoughtful public education entrepreneurs. These institutions will offer two types of secondary business training courses. The MBEI’s authorized programs offer secondary business career choices, which can be turned into a full or part-time business if needed. The business curriculum must be developed so that students will be able to enrolled in an advance entrepreneurial career training at four-year colleges and other entrepreneurial training institutions.

Skeptics say charter schools will attract all the best students and most involved parents, and leave the rest of the public schools with the harder-to-educate students and parents who don't care. Opponents contend that charter schools, as schools of choice, will appeal to the most successful students and families already highly involved in their children's education. Charter schools refute this logic on two counts. First, they don't attract just the "golden" students. In fact, to the contrary, they serve a disproportionate number of students traditionally considered to be low achieving or otherwise "at-risk." A study by the Phoenix based Goldwater Institute found that students attending Arizona's charter schools don’t necessarily represent the state's highest achievers; rather, fourth and seventh grade students entering charter school scored an average of 5 percent lower on standardized tests than the state average, while tenth grade charter school students scored an average of 12 percent lower.