Answering this question hinges on how the charter movement resolves eight long-term issues that will shape the future of charter schools in California and across the nation. Today, it's premature to expect more than preliminary indications of charter results, though early returns are promising. But charter schools aren't a miracle cure. This strategy will do more good if viewed as an example of a different approach rather than an end in itself. Today, it's costly and difficult to open a charter school.
Many founders struggle to find a facility and then confront an absence of capital funds.
Those entry barriers arise from political opposition that wants charter schools few and weak. Practical implications follow from the answers to these questions. If charter schools are miniature school districts, they may be bound to government procedures like procurement and accounting-and entitled to full public funding, capital costs included. If they're private vendors, they may not have to function like government or need not receive the same amount as district schools. If they're hybrid, it's another story.