Charter schools will bankrupt conventional public schools. But school districts have tremendous fixed costs that are not reduced when a student leaves. A student's home district should not be responsible for transferring any more than its marginal saving. Charter schools are specifically intended to stimulate innovation and accountability within the framework of public education. Charter schools must be, and are, open to all educators who wish to learn how to do things better.
Some charter schools plan to establish centers to propagate the lessons they learn.
Empirically, the true fixed costs of most school districts are not as great as many people believe. For example, DOE could offer fast-track consideration of requests for regulatory relief or waivers. Districts should be encouraged by the state to collaborate with their local charter schools to minimize redundancy and share costs in the delivery of certain educational and social services. Renting excess space in existing school buildings to charter schools would be an obvious way for school districts to recoup some of their losses. Forcing school districts to pay for the education of students who are not even enrolled in public schools today is unfair.