Charter schools are public schools, but differ from traditional public schools in that they are independent and are operated by educators, parents, community leaders, educational entrepreneurs, or others. Funding for charter schools is based on designated local or state educational organizations. Those organizations are responsible for monitoring and assessing the quality and effectiveness of education, but permit the schools to operate outside of the traditional public school education system.

The main Sequoia Schools campus is located in Mesa and is one of the oldest and largest charter school organizations in the state.  There are other high performing and specialized Sequoia campuses all over the state of Arizona.