The funding strategy for the charter school, The New Country Day School, in Le Sueur, Minnesota, is described by Ed Janus, host of NCREL's Rural Audio Journal 7, Chartering New Paths to School Reform (NCREL, 1994).
"If you've heard from people like Ed Cauldry, Doug Thomas, and the state board president, John Plocker, the opportunity to possibly greatly increase the rate of public school change was very important to the overall picture reform in Minnesota and the country, money in the form of grants would be found, which in combination with the money which would follow the twenty-five students from other districts who wanted to go to this alternative school, would pay for the new country school's operations, and insure that there would be no net loss to the district because the charter school would agree to refund state foundational aid through the purchase of services from the district, it would be revenue neutral to the district."