Thirteen new charter schools opened to students this year in Colorado.

While the increase is a trend across the nation, charter school or not, schools in the Grand Valley have the same goals for students.

Caprock Academy is pretty new to Karie Harmon's family.

"My daughter went in the middle of last year, and then I took my sons this year," she said.

Karie is happy with her decision to switch schools.

"I know they require a lot of the kids, not only in the school academically, but in the community," she said.

Karie's children are part of the growing number of students heading to charter schools across the country.

"All charter schools have to be unique. That's how they become charter schools. Each program has to be different than what any school in the district is offering," Director of Communications for School District 51 Jeff Kirtland said.

It's estimated just over 82,000 students are now enrolled in a charter school in Colorado, an 11 percent increase from last year and one of the highest increases in the U.S. That's according to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.

"We’ve seen quite a bit of growth over the last three years. This is the start of my fourth [school year], and we've grown every year by at least 25 kids," Independence Academy principal Damon Lockhart said.

This is a trend carrying over to the Grand Valley with both Caprock and Independence seeing increases in students over the past few years.

In addition to the higher enrollment, Caprock has also seen greater retention rates. According to the headmaster, nearly 94 percent of students from last year returned to the school this year.

But despite the growth, there are still more than 20,000 kids enrolled in School District 51, and officials say they still have plenty to offer.

"In our district we have over 26, almost 30 academic options or different choices that students can take advantage of. Every child is an individual learner, so it's a matter of parents identifying what types of programs, what types of schools are going to be best for their children,” Kirtland said.

So it's not a matter of who can get the most students.

"It’s not a competition for us, it's about families and what's best for our kids," Lockhard said.

Because charter or non-charter, the goal is the same.

The official we spoke with at School District 51 said charter schools are public schools. One of the main differences is that charter schools do not have to accept every child interested in enrolling. Schools in District 51 cannot say no to a student by law.