The main difference between charter and public schools is that public schools are part of a district which is managed by a public school board publicly elected officials while charter schools are managed either by the immediate school administration , or by private management organizations . Additionally , charter schools are often waived of having to follow the same regulations as public district schools . The waving of regulations vary by state . The argument for fewer regulations is that there is more room to experiment . The flip side is that without regulations , it is much harder to hold charter schools accountable for how they spend public money , and what should be happening at each school . For example , charter schools in CA are not required by law to provide textbooks to every student . Traditionally , charter schools began as a way to have ' teacher run schools ' that could better adjust how funds were spent to best meet the needs of their kids which vary based on school population , but in the last decade there has been a huge boom in larger ' chain store ' models of charter schools which are very interested in growth , often at the expense of quality .