The education field is second only to corporate America when it comes to chasing new fads that promise revolutionary changes but produce little more than a new set of buzzwords.

So like many parents and taxpayers, I retained some healthy skepticism when I first started to hear about the promise of charter schools. I've since become a believer -- not on the basis of the promise, but on the performance of charter schools in expanding what public education in Georgia can offer

That offer will be expanded even further if Gov. Sonny Perdue signs the legislation known as House Bill 881. The bill would establish the Georgia Charter Schools Commission, which would make it easier for communities to start charter schools and provide a fair share of funding for families who choose this route.

MY CHILDREN are thriving as public charter school students. All three are enrolled in the Georgia Virtual Academy. As the name of our charter school implies, the GVA teaches children via online computer connections from our home to the academy's Newnan, Ga., headquarters. We have found the school is much more responsive to the individual needs of each child, and the quality is far better than that of conventional public schools.

It's important to remember that charter schools are also public schools. They shouldn't be confused with the private academies that sprung up all over the South in the wake of public school desegregation.

Charter schools in Georgia today are the quintessential opposite of elitist institutions. The state now has 71 public charter schools serving 30,000 children. And the number of special-needs students and children from economically disadvantaged homes is higher on average than in traditional public schools. Plus, charter school students consistently outperform other public school pupils on standardized state tests.

To me, the key difference between public charter schools and traditional public schools is accountability. Charter schools have a "free-market accountability," if you will, to produce the results they promise. If a charter school doesn't produce results for kids, it can have its charter revoked and be closed down by the state.

MUCH MORE importantly, charter schools are accountable to parents. If parents are not satisfied with the education their children are receiving, they can pull their kids out and send them to a different charter school, or to a conventional public school. Such options used to be reserved for private school parents, but charter school parents get them without paying a dime in tuition.

Too many local school districts see charter schools as unwanted competition to the monopoly the traditional public schools have always had. So it's not logical that these same school districts currently have the power to approve or reject proposals for new charter schools. H.B. 881 would shift that power to the independent Charter Schools Commission and equalize funding for charter schools, which now receive only 75 percent of the funding given to traditional public schools.

All that said, charter schools are not the answer for every child, but they are an option every child and parent should have.

(The writer lives in Hephzibah.)