The drive for choice produces charter schools. Widespread failure in the government school system created a movement for expanded school choice. Charter schools arose in tandem with pressure to allow parents to choose the education they believe best suits their children. The desire for choice has prevailed despite the defeat of various voucher plans, including California's Proposition 174 in 1993. Convinced that a voucher plan would succeed unless the system reformed, California then became the second state, after Minnesota, to allow charter schools.
Charters promote diversity.
Charter schools cross all ethnic and cultural lines. A study covering 8,400 charter school students found that 63 percent were minorities and that the number of boys and girls was almost equal. Charter schools now teach the learning disabled, the deaf, pregnant teens, and low-income children. While many states would bar Bill Gates or Wynton Marsalis from teaching since they lack a credential, charter arrangements allow experts to pass on their knowledge in the classroom. At the Renaissance Charter School in Irving, Texas, former Navy pilot Fred McNabb teaches physics, usually a senior-year elective, to sophomores.