The Potential of ‘Alternative’ Charter School Authorizes

IN THE early 1990s a handful of states created independent public charter schools, providing opportunities for teachers and others to develop innovative schooling options. Unlike private schools funded through vouchers or tuition tax credits, these new public schools practice open admissions, accepting all students as space permits. In exchange for freedom from many government rules, they have to deliver results. Those that do so are to remain open; those that do not are to be closed. Now well into their second decade, charter schools have carved out a niche for themselves across America, serving a growing percentage of students in many communities and states. Yet the public has little understanding of the states' systems for deciding who gets, keeps, and loses the right to run a charter school. The entities responsible for these decisions are referred to as charter school "authorizers" (or "sponsors" in some states). The United States has a deep tradition of local control of public schools. Accordingly, local school boards have been granted varying degrees of power to award, deny, renew, and revoke charters in the 41 states and territories that have adopted the reform. Some district authorizers have embraced charter schools as an integral component of their school improvement plans. Others have used them to handle "problem" students or to relieve overcrowding. But far too many others want little to do with charters. They resent the need to select, assist, and monitor these schools and see them as a drain on resources. To assuage those groups that were denied charters by local boards, state policy makers initially allowed them to appeal to state boards of education, which could then force the local boards to grant the charters. Some states empowered their state boards to grant charters directly. The first option did little to improve relations between charter schools and local authorities. As for the second, state boards may lack the will and the means to become strong charter authorizers in their own right. As a result, states have begun turning to "alternative" charter authorizers outside the traditional structures of public school governance.(1) These alternative authorizers include independent state-level charter boards, higher education institutions, city governments, and nonprofit groups. Initial observations suggest that these entities are rapidly becoming the preferred authorizers and are increasingly being asked to develop model authorizing practices. ASSESSING THE QUALITY OF CHARTER AUTHORIZERS Researchers have been paying an increasing amount of attention to the role of charter school authorizers. In 2003, the first national study of authorizers concluded that, except for those sponsoring only a few schools (typically local school boards), many were doing an adequate job.(2) The study also found that state policy environments--shaped by charter school laws and the overall level of support for charter schools, among other factors--affected the authorizers' ability to do their jobs. A subsequent study of larger authorizers in 2004 also found that they were making appropriate decisions about the renewal and termination of charters.(3) Neither study, however, evaluated authorizers by type (for example, traditional authorizers versus alternative ones). A national study in May 2006 examined authorizers by type but did not consider state policy contexts.(4) That study found great variability among authorizers, with some doing their jobs well and others doing them halfheartedly. It also found that independent state charter boards and nonprofit organizations generally did a better job than other authorizers. The good news from these studies is that many authorizers are taking their jobs of sponsorship seriously. The bad news is that poor authorizing practices are having a detrimental effect on the charter movement. The National Association of Charter School Authorizers offers best-practice recommendations, but there is still policy debate about the best types of authorizers. …