New School in New Orleans

There were six schools in the Lower Ninth Ward before the area was wiped out by Hurricane Katrina.

Dr Martin Luther King Jr Charter schoolis the only one that's re-opened.

The 2010 school year has just begun at the ... and with 740 students, it's full to the brim.

The school made a quick recovery because its staff made a crucial strategic decision to become a charter school -artially funded by the state, as well as private corporations and non-governmental organisations -- but they're not bound to the same rules and regulations as traditional schools.

Before Hurricane Katrina, just 2 percent of schools here in New Orleans were charters. By next year, it will be closer to 70 percent.

That kind of explosive growth has never been tried anywhere in the United States, which makes the New Orleans school system very much an experiment -- and there are plenty of people worried about the results.

Aljazeera's Cath Turner reports from New Orleans