Charter School also opened in 1998. Opening in Philadelphia in 1999, the Christopher Columbus Charter School features E.D. Hirsch's Core Knowledge Mission, with an emphasis on international languages and computer technology. The Collegium Charter School, West Chester Borough's second charter school, features an emphasis on core academics in the morning with afternoons devoted to the Paragon Program, which is the interdisciplinary study of Western Civilization. The first charter public schools law was passed in Minnesota in 1991. Thirty-seven states, including New Jersey, Delaware, New York and Ohio, and the District of Columbia have laws allowing for the creation of charter public schools.
Strong laws are necessary to ensure the creation of charter public schools.
To date, the majority of the more than 1,700 schools serving in excess of 400,000 students are operating in states with strong, expansive charter public school laws.