Lawmakers will be haggling over educational funding and charter schools, and there's a lot of emotion on each side. I talked with parents and students in both charter and public schools to see why there's such a divide.

"This school's a lot more like, it's more for me," says 12-year-old Tiara Amarante. She's talking about the difference between her former public school and where she is now.

"At public schools you don't really learn as much, every year it's the same exact thing," says Tiara. "But here at charter school, the level is more advanced."

She's in 7th grade at Foxborough Regional Charter School-- and a straight A student-- who is fluent in three languages. Tiara's mom Claudia says she's not sure that would be the case had she kept her in public school.

"Charter school was giving more than they were getting from the public schools, and they can always be pushed," says Claudia. "They're smart, you know what I mean, we've got to take everything that they have."

For Tiara, it's been great-- she's growing and advancing. But that wasn't the case for Malikka Williams' 5-year-old son Malik. He spent about two years in a charter school before she decided to send him back to public. She recalls conversations with the charter school headmaster:

"It went about maybe, ten days, my son got his first suspension."

Malik was suspended over a dozen times. Malikka says in her case, the charter school was too stringent.

"I think that in the beginning, it was just not working for my son. I don't think it's going to work for a lot of children that reside in low-income neighborhoods, because the thinking of the charter is 'we're going to get these kids ready for testing, and if we're going to get these kids ready for testing, we really don't need the parents involved,'" says Malikka. "But when you do that, you're pushing the parent out of the equation."

Barbara Madaloni, president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, say the big problem with charter schools is that they play by different rules.

"Charter schools are not under local control, they are not overseen by elected officials, and so they really are private entities using public funds," says Madaloni.

Jim Stergios with the Pioneer Institute says charter schools represent a choice:

"A lot of parents want what's best for their kids, and they believe that the charter schools are really good options for them. And that's why they exist."

But not everyone agrees charter schools should exist, because they take money away from traditional public schools. The state Department of Education says every child who goes to a charter school takes about 13,000 dollars with them. Madaloni says that cuts down on resources:

"We're talking more than 400 million dollars a year taken out of public schools, and put into private hands for education. That says to me we are not committed to the wellbeing and high-quality public education for every child in Massachusetts."

Jim Stergios says there's a complicated reimbursement formula for public schools that leaves plenty of funding.

"When I hear people say, 'hey, the charter schools are really hurting out budgets,' that is absolutely not true," says Stergios. "It's almost as if they want us to pay a ransom for every kid who goes to a charter school."

Parents Claudia Amarante and Malikka Wiliams agree they did what was best for their children.

"It's all worth it. Seeing them and actually comparing them with what I see from the public school that we come from, I see a lot of differences, and it's differences to the better," says Claudia.

"I was able to reach out to Boston Public Schools and say, listen, this is what's happening here, and they did come right in with a cape on, and my son is doing awesome. He hasn't been suspended once since then," says Malikka.

They also agree that parents are ultimately responsible for guiding their children's education--not legislators.