Charter schools abide by the state core curriculum, state testing mandates and teacher licensing rules. But they do have some freedom in determining how to address state education standards.

Parents, educators and even school districts so far have chartered 19 of the schools statewide.

"It's always made more sense to me, simply on the basis of our unique Utah situation, that the way to create the market forces that will improve the system is through charter schools," Leavitt said.

But it's questionable whether they have truly opened up choices to all.

A survey by Education Excellence Utah, a group that lobbies for school choice and tuition tax credits, found 1,796 students' names are on waiting lists to get into charter schools. That's about half the number of kids already enrolled.

On one hand, the waiting lists show the reform measure's popularity among Utah parents.

On the other, it shows choice is stifled by Utah's charter school law, Education Excellence Utah director Royce Van Tassell said.

The law makes charter innovators beholden to what he calls "the education establishment." Basically, school districts are the only ones who can OK a charter school. That, he says, is not fair because charter schools do compete with traditional public schools. And district administrators commonly view charter schools as a drain on resources.

Leavitt appears to agree. Maybe, he says, it's time to fix the law.

"I'm going to get way out on a limb here, but . . . I think there will need to be, as the number of charter schools continues to grow, some way of providing the most basic coordination and accountability for charter schools that isn't at a district level, unless districts catch the vision on this," Leavitt said.

Funding is another issue.

The state is the sole source of charter schools' operating money. Still, charter schools, barring one-time federal startup grants, receive $4,822 per student, whereas regular school districts spend an average $5,600 per student, a recent Utah Foundation report found. Basically, the complex formula for how they're funded needs tweaking, Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, has said.

Charter schools can't bond for buildings. They seek donations for desks, chairs and lockers. They also don't receive tax funds for school lunch or busing.

"Right now, I'm doing all the same things you do at a normal district school, with less support," said Carolyn Sharette, director of the American Preparatory Academy, a charter school that opened this fall in Draper.

Tuition tax credits