A similar vision has prompted parents, teachers and community leaders to create at least 2,073 charter schools in 33 states and the District of Columbia. The schools are diverse in style and educational mission but unified by a vision of broader choice in local schooling. In Florida, a parent started a charter school because middle school students were commuting two hours each way to the nearest school. In Washington, D.C., a group of parents at one elementary school loved the school but hated the city bureaucracy it was a part of, so they started their own school. In Minnesota, student requests for smaller class sizes and more attention led a teacher to launch the nation's first charter school.
Charter laws give educators and parents the opportunity to create the schools of their dreams.
Bragato's school, the San Carlos Charter Learning Center, started in 1994 with 85 students and now has 200 in grades kindergarten through eight. Parents are required to work with the school 80 hours a year. It doesn't work for every kid. It's not meant to. Minnesota passed the nation's first charter school law in 1991.