The intent of most charter school laws has been to promote improvement in public education through the expansion of school choice (Elmore, 1986; Peterson, 2006). The Commonwealth of Massachusetts first authorized the creation of charter schools in the Education Reform Act of 1993 (M.G.L. Ch.71§§l-89). In that law, legislators stated that the goals for charter schools included the development of innovative programs, opportunities for innovative learning and assessments and models for replication in other public schools (M.G.L. Ch. 71 §89[d]). According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, a public charter school is a publicly funded school that is typically governed by a group or organization under a legislative contract …show more content…
According to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, They are funded by local, state and federal tax dollars based on student enrollment. Charter school funding often offsets funding allocated to the tradition public school system. When a student transfers from a traditional public school to a public charter school, the funding associated with that student will follow him or her to the public charter school. Public charter schools do not add any new costs to the state’s public education system. They simply move funding associated with a student from one public school to another based upon the decisions of …show more content…
Holme (2002) likewise concluded that parental status heavily influenced school choice. Not surprisingly, wealthier parents had the means to send their children to schools of their choice with more frequency (Fowler, 2002; Levin, 1997; Payne, 1993). Finally, parents connected with community networks are more likely to choose to have their children take advantage of educational choices beyond local schools (Howe, 2002; Smrekar & Goldring, 1999). Howe concluded that school choice practices tend to “favor parents with savvy, time, and 14 resources” (p. 22). For some families, participating in school choice was a matter of running from a low performing school. For others, the pull of a better school was