The difference, however, is that charter schools place these innovations at the center of their school designs, rather than at the periphery. An important component of this structural difference is that charter schools are driven by parental choice. A charter school's survival depends on its ability to draw and satisfy students and parents, a dynamic to which most public schools are not subject. Oversubscription indicates validation, while undersubscription signals a need for reassessment and action if failure is to be avoided. For charter schools, parents are the ultimate judge of what is good enough for their children.
Early indications are that charter schools are an alternative that many parents prefer.
Competition in public education will be destructive. Education is not like business. Improving student outcomes is a result of collaboration, not competition. Charter schools should not challenge the established public school systems for students and funding, but instead should be managed under the umbrella of the local school districts. Charter schools replace the bureaucratic culture of the present school system with an entrepreneurial model, built around empowered school principals and parental choice.