Charter schools are fully public schools – meaning that are open to any student living in Washington and they operate on public dollars. However, charters are freed from many of the rules that burden regular public schools. Charter schools have flexibility in the design of their school programs, their personnel decisions, and their resource allocation. In exchange for this freedom, public charter schools are held accountable for their school's performance including student achievement, organizational and fiscal management, and stakeholder satisfaction. There are no admissions tests or tuition fees at charter schools.
In 1995, in response to DC Public Schools' chronically low student achievement, Congress passed the District of Columbia School Reform Act, robust charter school legislation that, combined with one of the highest per-pupil funding rates in the country, has made DC one of the most "charterized" cities in the US. In the 2009-10 school year, DC had 57 charter schools, operating on 99 campuses with 38% of public school students enrolled in charters.
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