Here is a short answer, but it only "scratches the surface". It's a big topic. Most primary and secondary public schools in the US are run by states and counties within the states through the school districts. Over the years, some new schools, called charter schools, have been developed that are run by non-for-profit organizations, for-profit corporations, community groups, and a variety of other groups that want to see improvement in education where the public education has not been successful. For example, in an inner-city school system of a poor community, there are fewer tax dollars to have a good school building, pay good teachers, and pay for materials that can be found in some wealthier school districts. Charter schools are PUBLIC schools. (They are not independent like religious schools.) They cannot charge students tuition; however, they don't have to follow all of the same rules as the true public schools. Because they receive the public money, they have some extra requirements to prove that their students have good results (for instance, the students' scores on state tests are increasing, or more and more of the students go on to university). Some charter schools offer specialized education like foreign language immersion or a technology curriculum for students who know they want to go to the university to study in a science / technology field.