Having It Both Ways: How Charter Schools Try to Obtain Funding of Public Schools and the Autonomy of Private Schools

Since 1992, forty-two states and the District of Columbia have enacted legislation for charter schools. As of December 2011, there were 5,700 charter schools educating 1.9 million students. Charter schools are characterized as public schools that receive autonomy from a variety of rules and regulations that traditional public schools must follow. In exchange for this increased autonomy, charter schools are accountable to the requirements that are established in the charter.

Failure to satisfy those requirements could result in the closing of the school.