What Is a Charter School? The Plain-English Guide

A charter school is a public school that runs independently of the local school district. It is free to attend, funded by taxpayers, and open to any student, but it operates under its own contract (the "charter") with an authorizer instead of under district management. That freedom is the whole idea: charters can set their own curriculum, calendar, and culture, and in exchange they can be closed if they fail to perform.

The five facts that matter

1. Free. Charters cannot charge tuition. If a school calling itself a charter asks for tuition, something is wrong.
2. Open enrollment. No entrance exams, no zip-code requirement in most states. When more families apply than there are seats, admission runs by lottery, not selection.
3. Independently run. A nonprofit board (or in some states a management company) runs the school. Quality varies far more between charters than between district schools, which is exactly why comparison data matters.
4. Accountable by contract. Authorizers renew or revoke charters based on performance. Hundreds of charter schools close every year; districts almost never close a school for academics.
5. Publicly measured. Charter students take the same state tests as district students, which is what makes an apples-to-apples scorecard possible.

What charters are not

Charters are not private schools (no tuition, no admissions selection), not vouchers or ESAs (no money flows to families in most models), and not one thing in general. A classical academy, a project-based school, a dropout-recovery program, and a homeschool charter are all "charter schools." The label tells you the legal structure, not the experience. Our guide to the types of charter schools sorts the actual models.

How to evaluate one

Start with the data: state test results, growth over time, and enrollment stability, which is what our grades are built from (methodology here). Then do the human part: tour it, watch a class, and ask how the school handles a struggling student. Data filters; visits decide.

Ready to look? Find every charter school in your state, free and searchable.