The Obama administration recently made available $4.35 billion to states to improve and reform education with the establishment of the Race to the Top Fund. This fund is a component of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. It also is the largest-ever federal competitive investment in public education reform.

Alabama is eligible to receive up to $175 million of federal assistance. States will compete for the grant.

The U.S. Department of Education has set forth funding criteria that address four central areas of reform that will drive school improvement:

• Adopting internationally benchmarked standards and assessments that prepare students for success in college and the workplace.

• Recruiting, developing, retaining and rewarding effective teachers and principals.

• Building data systems that measure student success and inform teachers and principals how they can improve their practices.

• And turning around our low-performing schools.

Many individuals view the Race to the Top Fund as a mechanism to create charter schools. Presently, Alabama does not have public charter schools. "Every parent should be able to choose a charter school," says President Barack Obama. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, the Rev. Al Sharpton and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich have toured the country in support of the president's plan.

Support is mixed among Alabama's gubernatorial candidates. Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks, a Democratic candidate, opposes charter schools. Democratic U.S. Rep. Artur Davis and former two-year college chancellor Bradley Byrne, a Republican, favor them. The Alabama Education Association does not endorse the concept.

Nevertheless, State Superintendent of Education Joe Morton agrees with legislation that permits charter schools in the state. State Sen. Steve French plans to introduce a bill in the 2010 legislative session permitting the establishment of charter schools.

The first charter school law was passed by the Minnesota legislature in 1991, with California following in 1992. According to the U.S. Charter Schools' Web site, the most frequently asked questions about charter schools are:

• What is a charter school? A charter school is a nonreligious public school of choice that operates with freedom from many of the regulations that apply to traditional public schools. The "charter" establishing each such school is a performance contract detailing the school's mission, program, goals, students served, methods of assessment and ways to measure success. The length of time for which charters are granted varies, but most are granted for 3-5 years.

• What's the difference between charter schools and other public schools? Charter schools are public schools of choice, meaning teachers and students choose them. They generally offer teachers and students more authority to make decisions than most traditional public schools. Instead of being accountable for compliance with rules and regulations, they are accountable for academic results and for upholding their charter.

• Who authorizes charter schools? This varies from state to state, depending on the state's charter law. Generally, there are four types of entities allowed to authorize charter schools: the local school board, state universities, community colleges and the state board of education.

• Who can start a charter school? Parents, community leaders, businesses, teachers, school districts and municipalities can submit a charter school proposal to their state's charter school authority entity.

• Who attends charter schools? Whom do they serve? Nationwide, students in charter schools have similar demographic characteristics to students in all public schools. In some states, charter schools serve significantly higher percentages of minority or economically disadvantaged students than traditional public schools.

• How are they funded? As public schools, charter schools are not allowed to charge tuition, and they are funded according to enrollment. In most states, charters do not receive capital funds for facilities. They are entitled to federal categorical funding for which their students are eligible, such as Title 1 and special-education monies. Federal legislation provides grants to help charters with start-up costs.

• How many are there? Nationally, there are about 4,600 charter schools enrolling 1.4 millions students.

• Do charter schools have admissions policies? By law, charter schools must have a fair and open admissions process, conducting outreach and recruitment to all segments of the community they serve. When more students apply than can be accommodated, many charters use a lottery to randomly determine which students are accepted.

Charter schools are not the ultimate solution to the nation's educational problems. There are mixed results of their performance. A national study conducted by a Stanford University economist found that 37 percent of charter schools got worse results than comparable neighborhood public schools, 46 percent did about the same and only 17 percent were superior to the local public schools. The Raymond study surveyed half the country's charter schools and more than 70 percent of all charter schools' students.

The Raymond study concluded: "This study reveals in unmistakable terms that, in the aggregate, charter students are not faring as well as their traditional public schools counterparts. Further, tremendous variation in academic quality among charters is the norm, not the exception. The problem of quality is the most pressing issue that charter schools and their supporters face."

Oftentimes, success stories and reports are fabricated, distorted and can be misleading. When regulations are applied equally to traditional schools and charter schools, then an accurate comparison may be made. The Race to the Top Fund should be channeled to high poverty and rural areas where local sources of funding are limited. The lure of the federal dollar is the driving force of supporters of charter schools.

Gerald Shirley is principal of School of Discovery in Selma.