Charter Schools 101

What is a Charter School?

“A legislative strategy for transforming public education by harnessing the powerful dynamics of choice, competition, and accountability.” James N. Goenner, Ph.D.

Charter schools are:

  • Tuition free
  • Funded by state and federal taxpayer dollars
  • Held accountable to all applicable state and federal laws
  • Open to all and do not discriminate on any basis

What is the Strategy Behind Chartering Schools?

  • Help States withdraw the exclusive geographic franchises given to school districts and allow others to provide public education
  • Create new public schools that provide competition for existing schools and provide parents with choice
  • Free schools from unnecessary rules and regulations, in exchange for producing results.
  • Establish authorizers that charter and oversee schools, but unlike a school district do not own or operate them
  • Ensure these new public schools are dually accountable: to the marketplace of parental choice and to the standards of the public interest

What is a Charter Contract?

The legally binding performance agreement consisting of the academic, fiscal and operational terms between the authorizer and the charter school board.

Who are the Authorizers?

Pursuant to individual state law, the entities that fulfill the role of the authorizer may consist of:

  • School Districts/Local Educational Agencies
  • Higher Education Institutions
  • Mayor/Municipalities
  • Independent Charter Boards
  • Not-for-Profit Organizations
  • State Education Agencies

(source: National Association of Charter School Authorizers)

What is the Role of the Authorizer?

Authorizers/Sponsors are the agencies that support and monitor the schools in this innovative public education sector. They are the elected officials, education leaders and day-to-day managers that determine who may start a new school and which schools are good enough to stay open.

Fifteen years of chartering has resulted in thousands of quality charter schools. Authorizers protect the public interest as these entrepreneurial schools come into being. Authorizers include:

  • state and local boards of education
  • colleges and universities
  • special-purpose boards
  • municipal bodies
  • nonprofits

These are the entities charged by law to approve, oversee, and evaluate the performance of public charter schools. The purpose of charter school authorizing is to improve student achievement. A quality authorizer engages in responsible oversight of charter schools by ensuring that schools have both the autonomy to which they are entitled and the public accountability for which they are responsible.