Big cities like Chicago, New York, and Atlanta get most of the headlines in the education reform wars. But smaller school districts experience equally fierce battles. And just like in the big ones, the assault on community-controlled public schools often comes in the form of charter schools.

Charter schools are privately controlled schools funded by public dollars. They are often exempted from district regulations concerning everything from school admissions (unlike public schools, charters do not have to admit all neighborhood children) to teacher workload (most charters aren’t covered by union contracts).

This lack of regulation has led to widespread corruption, as well as tremendous instability. A 2013 New York Times investigation found that while teachers in traditional public schools have an average of fourteen years of experience, “charter networks are developing what amounts to a youth cult in which teaching for two to five years is seen as acceptable and, at times, even desirable.”