Charter Schools, and Critics, Abound in Michigan

Parents are happy with options, but that's not enough for the usual suspects

More charter schools opened this school year than in any year since the late 1990s, a surge that's due in large part to the state lifting restrictions on the number that can open. It's giving parents unprecedented choices for their children's education but also renewing quality concerns.

The revised law requires new charters to meet academic goals, but it didn't come with something critics said was key: measures to ensure that the new schools would be operated by companies with proven academic records.