The desire to reinvent public education along the lines suggested by today's charter strategy welcomes decentralized control, entrepreneurial management, and grass-roots initiative within a framework of publicly defined standards and accountability. Public officials establish goals, arrange assessment, and hold schools accountable for results. They also intervene in failing schools. But they don't run schools directly. Government doesn't itself deliver services, employ people, or regulate the process.
Charter schools are naturally important for the children they directly serve.
But they are also significant as examples of how to reinvent public education. If this reinvention process continues to spread and gain legitimacy, K-12 education in California and the nation may finally ready itself for the next millennium. It may even catch up with the rest of our lives and our society. The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation is affiliated with the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research . The Foundation is neither connected with nor sponsored by Fordham University.