NACSA appreciates the United States Department of Education (US ED) rolling back prior efforts to restrict and redefine who is eligible to authorize charter schools. For more than 18 months NACSA has worked with authorizers, state education agencies, CMO and school leaders, and US ED to resolve this issue, and ensure critical start-up and replication grants to schools are not interrupted. In its formal response to this issue in October of 2023, NACSA was clear: every authorizer is empowered to authorize charter schools by state law. All authorizers across the country can now, with certainty, help address the urgent national issue of accelerating student achievement.
Statement on US ED’s Decision to Rollback Authorizer Restrictions