This article describes the efforts of a school superintendent to bring the best of charter school practices together with public school education in order to begin a program of collaboration and professional development for teachers, as well as a way to measure student success. The superintendent visited YES Prep and KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program) schools (schools with a comprehensive program designed to assist low-income students in preparation for success in college) and observed the success of teacher to student growth, noting that there was a need to look beyond competing with these kinds of charter schools. The compact between public and charter schools could fill needs on both sides: school districts want to import some of the classroom culture and sense of urgency they see in charter schools, and some want charters to take more special education students or to hold low-performing charter-school operators to account. The article reports on 4 district-charter compacts in Texas, California and Colorado. The article concludes that this kind of partnership has allowed schools to expand beyond their growth models.