SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) – Ray Budde, an educator who invented the phrase “charter schools” and then helped define them, died June 11 at Mercy Hospital in Springfield of respiratory failure complicated by several previous illnesses, according to his son, Scott. Budde was 82.

Charter schools are public schools that operate independently of the district board of education. Budde believed charter schools would give teachers increased responsibility over curriculum. In return, they would be more accountable for student achievement. The term came into use after Budde used it in a 1988 government-financed report, “Education by Charter,” according to a 1999 New York Times article.

Later, Budde wrote two books on the subject: “Education By Charter: Restructuring School Districts” in 1988, and “Strengthening School-Based Management by Chartering All Schools” in 1998.

Some attribute the origin of the charter school idea to the late Albert Shanker, who once headed the American Federation of Teachers. The National Charter Clearinghouse said either Budde or Shanker could be viewed as the creator of the term and education plan.

Budde was born in St. Louis in 1923 and graduated from St. Louis University in 1943. He served in the Navy during World War II, then earned his master’s degree in business administration at the University of Illinois in 1947. He taught at the University of Massachusetts Graduate School of Education from 1966 to 1973, when he retired. He then became director of the Blackstone Valley Educational Collaborative for 12 years and lived in Attleboro.

Besides his son, Scott, Budde is survived by another son, Stephen, of Chicago, and a daughter, Lynne Budde Sheppard of Stanwood, Wash. His wife, Patricia, and an infant son, Bruce, died before him.

A memorial service is planned in Amherst in July.