The accountability factor. Charters are not granted in perpetuity. At the end of the charter's term, from three to 15 years depending on the state, the school is assessed to see if it has met the educational goals the school founders set out to accomplish. If the goals were met, their charter may be renewed. If they failed, their charter may be withdrawn.
Charters thus unleash the principle of competition in a system where little or none has existed.
Charters promote private initiative. According to some analysts, roughly a dozen private, for-profit companies are running 10 percent of the existing charter schools in Arizona, California, Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, Massachusetts, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania, as well as the District of Columbia. Private companies also help charter schools with start-up costs, a difficulty many reformers face. In several states, developers are including charter schools as part of housing developments. Charting the opposition.