Lawmakers question need for charter school

Local lawmakers fear Baltimore County?s first charter school will do little more than divert funding and teachers from the public school system to educate students currently enrolled in private schools.

Imagine Discovery, a 415-seat school that will initially offer kindergarten through fourth grade, will be the county?s first charter school when it opens in August. But more than 60 percent of the 760 students who applied for the Woodlawn school currently attend private schools, and some lawmakers said that defeats the purpose of the charter system.