Read President Clinton's 10-point Education Plan to hear what he says about alternative school options and parental involvement in the schools. Click here for a special offer. Click here for our free newsletter. Thanks in part to competition from new publicly funded, privately run charter schools in and around Inkster, the same fate may be in store for the tiny district's three remaining public schools. What could help push it over the edge is the popularity of a half-dozen charter schools that have opened in the Inkster area since Michigan began permitting them in 1993.
Charter schools are public schools that usually operate independently of local districts.
They are granted flexibility in curriculum and freedom from regulations in exchange for improving students' academic performance. But the proportion is far higher in Inkster. According to a recent tally by the Detroit Free Press , there are about 500 Inkster students among the 2,000 pupils at six charter schools in or near the city. Other Inkster kids have opted for parochial schools or enrolled in nearby public school districts under a new public school choice law. But in the new educational marketplace, she simply went shopping for a better alternative and found it in the Gaudior Academy, where her girls finished 4th and 5th grade last week.