Charter schools are public schools... and they actually get less money per student than the other public schools in their district. (Our charter school gets rou

Charter schools are public schools... and they actually get less money per student than the other public schools in their district. (Our charter school gets roughly $1200 less per student per year than the other schools in the district). The good ones still find ways to do more with less. (Ours has kept class sizes smaller than the rest. We still have music, art, foreign languages, etc... while other schools are cutting those programs.) A lot of charter schools require (well not require but strongly encourage) some level of parent participation (volunteering in the class, fundraising, etc). Since you are not just assigned a charter school based on your location (like traditional public schools) there is a certain amount of additional effort involved. I personally think this is the first filter that keeps "parents that really don't care" from sending their kids there. So I believe this gives you a higher concentration of students that come from homes that place a higher value on education. These kids are more likely to get additional support at home... which makes them more likely to do better in school.