February 3, 2010 11:16AM # Charters No Substitute for Private Innovation By [Adam B. Schaeffer](https://www.cato.org/people/adam-b-schaeffer) --- SHARE I [wrote](../2009/04/30/private-schools-save-children-rejected-by-the-system/) about this private school in South Carolina last year. The Voice for School Choice has a new [video](http://www.voiceforschoolchoice.com/2010/01/28/to-save-our-young-men/) highlighting the great work of the Eagle Military Academy, which works with many kids the public schools cannot or will not educate. There’s a lot of talk lately about the transformative power of some charter schools, and it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that many secular and religious private schools have been saving kids all along with no public funds and little or no recognition from the elite opinion class. We need to open up choice to these schools as well, not just public charter schools that cannot provide the breadth and depth of experiences offered by private schools. Public charter schools are no substitute for full school choice through education tax credits. ##### Related Tags [Education](https://www.cato.org/education), [Center for Educational Freedom](https://www.cato.org/center-educational-freedom) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).