While sometimes warranted, many times this response amounts to killing a fly with a cannon. Inexorably, regulations and procedures accumulate. Sometimes opposition is subtler, not as overt enemies but as rivals. There are signs in some state capitals that charters are becoming a vested interest. Moreover, will the charter movement succeed at policing itself and imposing quality control on its members.
Vested interests have the repugnant habit of defending all members against criticism and punishment.
Charter school self- policing will be a positive sign that kids come first and quality is the bottom line. America has a vast supply of energetic entrepreneurs, but few are in education. If we build it, they will come. 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.