The President of the United States called for three thousand by the millenium and in the last few years 28 states have approved their existence. Now there are more than five hundred and the number is growing every year, geometrically.
Charter schools are here to stay.
Bill Clinton is likely to outdo himself on this challenge. They're public schools. In some instances the local school system has the same right to sanction such a school. Charter schools grew out of the ever increasing desire for parents to choose the school and the program their children experience. Too few districts or states without the integration problem figured they needed such an innovation.