NACSA Blog

NACSA Blog

Press Releases


National Association of Charter School Authorizers Applauds Bipartisan Congressional Vote on Charter School Quality

With today’s overwhelming bipartisan approval of the Success and Opportunity through Quality Charters Act (H.R. 10) by the full House Education and the Workforce Committee, the National Association of Charter School Authorizers …


NACSA Applauds Alabama Vote to Approve Charter School Legislation

The National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) congratulates the Alabama General Assembly for passing Senate Bill 45 to become the most recent state to introduce charter schools as high-quality education options …


NACSA Receives National Grant to Strengthen Charter School Quality Nationwide

For more than a decade, the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) has led the effort to improve quality within the charter school community by helping authorizers set high standards, facilitate …


National Association of Charter School Authorizers Commends RSD Action to Deny Charter School’s Renewal

Charter schools are about more than just test scores. They also have an obligation to treat all students fairly and appropriately and to spend public money properly. Most charter schools do just …


NACSA Recognizes Step in the Right Direction To Improve Michigan’s Charter School Authorizing

The National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) recognizes today’s release of a study by the Education Trust—Midwest (ETM) entitled “Accountability for All: The Need for Real Charter School Authorizer Accountability in …


Managing and Building Relationships with the Decision Makers

The strength of the relationship between a charter authorizer’s board and its staff has a major influence on the quality of the charter school authorizing.


Nevada Passes Legislation Creating State-Run District to Tackle Consistently Low-Performing Schools

Chicago, Ill. – Over the weekend, the Nevada legislature passed AB448, a significant piece of school reform legislation that will allow the state to transition its lowest-performing public schools to charter schools …


Unnecessary Concern about CMOs in Connecticut

CMOs are nothing to be scared of. They simply reflect one of many ways to organize and operate a charter school. Some charter school governing boards choose to work with them because they can bring a lot to the table in terms of expertise, curriculum, and resources. And nationally, the best CMOs are one of the drivers of high-quality charter school growth.


Friendly Fire from AEI

In The Paperwork Pileup, authors Michael Q. McShane, Jenn Hatfield, and Elizabeth English assert that charter authorizers are often creating “onerous and lengthy” application processes that may scare off charter operators. Why keep harking back to anyone’s “original intent” when we’ve got more than two decades of actual experience to guide practice?


NACSA Says American Enterprise Institute Report on Charter School Application Process Goes too Far, Calls for Focus on Balanced Authorizing Practices

Chicago, Ill. – The National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) released the following statement in response to the recommendations in a report on authorizer accountability released today by the American Enterprise …


We Want YOUR Ideas for the Next Leadership Conference

NACSA’s 2015 Leadership Conference is in the works!  We are developing the schedule now for the October 19-22 program in Denver, Colorado and we want your session ideas! Our priority is to …


Lenders and Authorizers: Can We Talk?

What we quickly discovered is that the two groups have a lot in common, starting with a keen shared interest in strong, sustainable public charter schools. The report is also a pretty good short course for anyone interested in knowing how the two sectors work.


Greater Collaboration between Charter Authorizers and Lenders Can Ease School Facility Financing Burden, Report Concludes

Chicago, Ill. – Today the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) and the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) released a joint report aimed at increasing conversation and understanding between lenders and …


#CharterSchoolsWeek: Finding the Right Fit

My mother has always expressed to me that she only wants “what’s best” for me, and this is where my charter school story begins. At 14, I had been attending the same public school for eight years, yet I was unfamiliar with most teachers and students. I often felt invisible, especially during the times where I needed help, and I never knew who to talk to. I didn’t feel comfortable expressing my needs. My mother knew there were better choices for me, places where I could thrive academically and socially.
We found that choice in Perspectives Charter School.


Thirteen Years Later, I’m Still an Ambassador for Charter Schools

in my career at NACSA, I’m still that ambassador for quality charter schools—but in a different way.
I’m no longer speaking for one great school, but instead speaking for charter school authorizers. In their role as the gatekeepers of the charter movement, authorizers see the best and the worst of the charter sector.