In 1990 there were no charter schools. Today there are 1,205, with another 308 approved to open. This tumult of charter school activity is testament to the power of the marketplace to turn an abstract idea into hundreds and then thousands of different visualizations of that idea, creating new schools with bricks and mortar, classrooms, curricula and teachers, and parents willing and eager to select these schools for their children. In many ways, the growth of charter schools provides an indication of the market response that would likely occur if parents were given school choice in the form of school vouchers, rather than just the option of selecting another public school.
Parents have the right to choose their child's school.
Per-pupil education funding follows the child. Public education can be delivered by privately owned and operated schools. Once charter schools have established these three principles, it's only a matter of degree to include private schools in the school choice menu. The Center for Education Reform in Washington, DC, recently published the 1998-1999 National Charter School Directory , the fifth edition of its comprehensive listing of all the charter schools in the nation. Each school's profile includes address, telephone numbers, contact names, enrollment figures, grades served, and a brief description of the school's educational program.