One type of educational institutions that have been in existence for years is the charter school. An autonomous public school, a charter school is funded publicly although this is not under the rules and regulations applied to a conventional school. In certain areas, funds for charter schools come from private grants given by philanthropic individuals. Charter schools are intended to give measurable benefits to its students and graduates.
Charter schools should not have any discrimination in terms of creed, race, gender, origin, and economic class. It integrates teaching methods with educational philosophy, which is usually in an opposite manner of that of a public school which is supervised by a school board. Innovative pedagogy can be implemented in charter schools. When implemented well, charter schools provide a good opportunity for children, parents, educators and the society as a whole.
A charter school is usually given a focus, say giving college preparatory classes. It can also focus on technology, arts, and sciences. The charter school then signs a contract with the district, often for a period of five years. It is expected to give superior education in exchange for additional public funding and minimum supervision.
However there are a lot of concerns regarding charter schools. Since they are subjected to minimal supervision many have raised concerns that they provide low quality occasion. Ideally a charter school will be closed down if it does not perform up to par, although this is a hard thing to accomplish. Likewise some charter schools are managed by profit oriented companies, and this has led to the concern that the focus of the said schools is influenced by the need to gain profits. Another concern is that charter schools compete for the funding which should be allocated to public schools which is still serves the largest number of students. Yet another concern is that charter schools take advantage of young and enthusiastic teachers who are willing to take pay cuts in order to teach at a charter school.
Charter schools can be removed from control of the district under the charter system, especially if they do not perform up to expectations. Although changes in the administration of the school can help improve the performance of a school, charter schools are forced to accomplish more with lesser resources.
While charter schools can be good learning institutions, they are also subjected to certain limitations like any public institution.