In 1999, the Province of San Luis (Argentina) approved the creation of the so-called 'Escuelas Experimentales Autogestionadas' (SelfManaged Experimental Schools) inspired by the US charter schools, but with important differences. This article explores the circumstances under which the project was dismantled and abandoned prematurely. The study included a thorough documental analysis and interviews with key informants including members of the project's steering committee, scholars, members of the evaluation committee and the external audit, government and ex-government officials of the Ministry of Education, and teachers. We found strong incompatibilities among the guiding principles of the project, i.e. democratization, cooperativeness, autonomy and plurality, the practices of the provincial rentier political system, and the traditional structures of power bureaucratically organized at the national level.