they were created in the 1990s, designed to be the happy medium between private and public schools. they re funded with public money but the difference is a private group, even a for-profit company can apply and get approval for a charter to run their own school. charter schools do not have to follow some of the same rules and regulations that public schools have to. in exchange for that freedom, charter schools are expected to achieve specific results within a certain period of time, typically three to five years, or their charters can be revoked. right now there are at least a million students enrolled in 3500 charter schools nationwide. joining me now is frank san feliz, he works for the center for education innovation and public education association, which won a grant from the department of education yesterday. his group also received two grants from the teacher incentive fund last week. frank, good to see you. thank you for being with us. pleasure being here. all right, you h