An audit rightly ordered by the Legislature this year should take a close, unbiased and unflinching look at the financing, operation and curricula at the schools and the achievement level of their students.

Utah has 52 charter schools, created and run within the public school system by parents or other groups looking for alternatives to traditional public schools. Instructional funds come from state and federal taxes.

The Legislature this year wisely capped new charter schools at five for the 2007-'08 school year; 15 groups applied. The cap will remain pending the outcome of the audit. Studies by the Utah Education Policy Center are also providing legislators with much-needed data.

The phenomenal growth of charter schools in Utah has put a burden on the charter school board to review applications and oversee their operation. There have been questions about the autonomy of the charter school board; low-quality school construction; conflicts of interest among legislators who are involved in companies that build and run the schools; a lack of diversity; and whether charters are becoming elitist, taking high-achieving white students out of traditional classrooms.

The Legislature must answer those questions and, above all, determine whether charters are meeting the academic goals outlined for them: to improve student learning, to encourage innovative teaching methods, to create new professional opportunities for educators, to increase learning opportunities for students, establish new models and new forms of accountability and to allow for greater parental involvement.

The experience of other states shows that charter schools can meet these goals, but only under a watchful eye and with careful assessment.

Charter schools can serve the public-school system, but only when their role is strictly defined, their performance closely monitored and they are not protected at a cost to traditional public schools that continue to educate most Utah children.