Charter schools are schools funded by public money, but free of many of the rules and regulations typically governing public schools. It was thought that this freedom would allow schools to innovate and raise student achievement, but this has not generally been borne out by the evidence. Because of their funding model, charter schools often lack the start-up and facilities money of public schools. They frequently lack libraries, although multiple studies have shown school libraries and librarians to have an impact on student achievement. This study examines charter schools in North Carolina both with and without libraries and librarians and finds that their presence has a consistent positive, but not statistically significant, impact on student achievement
