A Washington University-sponsored charter school in South St. Louis opened its doors over the summer to its first class of 90 fifth-graders.

In 1991, Minnesota passed the first charter-school legislation in U.S. history, igniting a debate over the true social benefit of alternative education. Within the laissez-faire charter concept, schools are largely ungoverned by the regulations of traditional public schools and free to experiment with new teaching and administrative methods. In return, they must achieve certain test score benchmarks each year to maintain their public funding