Today, public schools continue to receive funds and teachers continue to get paid in fact, teachers receive pay increases regardless of how well the students perform. Beginning in 1992 with the first charter school in St. Paul, Minnesota, the number has grown to nearly 1,700 schools serving more than 350,000 students in 36 states. They are public schools open to all students free of charge, and the state s per-pupil funding allocation follows the student who chooses to enroll.
Accountability is a key component of the charter approach.
School administrators agree to produce results according to the state s academic standards, and in exchange are given autonomy to make budgetary and personnel decisions, as well as deciding how students will achieve their academic goals. If the schools don t perform, they lose their charter. The Neighborhood House Charter School Boston, Massachusetts Samuel DeWitt Proctor Academy Trenton, New Jersey Clarence Page, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the Chicago Tribune , hosts this examination of the emergence, perspective and practice of this relatively young education reform movement.