NACSA Blog

NACSA Blog

Press Releases


National Association of Charter School Authorizers Strongly Supports Public Charter School Program Reauthorization

The National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) endorses the efforts of Chairman John Kline (R-MN) and Senior Democrat Bobby Scott (D-VA) to reauthorize NCLB (No Child Left Behind) and strongly supports …


Press Statement on 1/21 US Senate HELP Committee Hearing ESEA Testing and Accountability

In response to the U.S. Senate HELP (Health, Education, Labor and Pensions) Committee hearing on testing and accountability, (scheduled for 9:30 am, Wednesday, January 21, 2015), Greg Richmond, President and CEO of …


Massachusetts Audit Obscures Successful Charter School Outcomes

The audit released today by the Massachusetts State Auditor of the administration of the charter school program by the Board of and Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE and DESE) misses …


NACSA Launches New Communications Effort

The National Association of Charter School Authorizers is pleased to announce that Jobi Cates has joined the organization as Vice President of Communications. Cates comes to NACSA from Human Rights Watch, where …


NACSA Applauds Focus on Student Outcomes and Serving At-Risk Students

The National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) welcomed today’s release of the National Alliance for Public Charter School’s (the Alliance) new national report on charter school performance. “The Alliance report offers …


Public Charter Schools: Renewal Resource for Charter School Leaders and Authorizers

Public Charter School Renewal Guidance for School Leaders & Authorizers

Renewal guidance for public charter schools The decision to renew — or not — is complex work, requiring the balancing of diverse and often competing interests. The global pandemic brought even more …


Public Charter School Leaders, Renewal is a Time to Tell our Story 

  Running a school is the most challenging and most fulfilling job in education. As the global pandemic hit, “challenging” didn’t even begin to describe what school leaders faced. For charter school …


4 Reasons You Should Attend #NACSAcon

Smart, proactive public charter school authorizing can transform public education. We’ve seen it happen in cities across the country.  How did they do it? What lessons can you take from their struggles and …


Holding Up a Mirror: What to Expect at 2021 NACSA Virtual Leadership Conference for Charter School Authorizers

As educators, we need to recognize the significance of this moment for charter school authorizers. The pandemic has interrupted schooling for millions of children–widening achievement and opportunity gaps that we have all …


Wyoming Gets a New Authorizer Is the Headline, But There’s More to the Story

Last month we touched on a Wyoming bill, SF130, which created a new authorizing pathway in the state. But there is more to the bill that deserves to be highlighted: through a comprehensive overhaul, SF130 significantly improves …


Amid Change, Our Autonomy and Community Are Our Strength

This blog post was written by Dr. Sana Shaikh, who served until this spring as Director of School Operations at Rise Prep High School, an autonomous school in Springfield, Massachusetts. Rise Prep is …


One of Our “COVID Keepers”: Putting Communities First in Public Charter Schools

This blog post was written by Joanna Hightower and Shira Woolf Cohen, Founding Partners, Innovageous.  In March 2020, brick and mortar public charter schools were suddenly forced to operate as virtual schools.  Despite …


Colorado HB1295: When Everyone But the Impacted Community Determines Education Policy for the Community

When is a public charter school in the community’s interest? Community can mean different things to different people of course, but generally NACSA believes that engaging community and gauging community needs to develop effective …


Biden’s FY2022 Budget and What It Means for Charter Schools & Authorizing

On Friday, May 28th, the Biden administration released their proposed budget for the 2022 fiscal year, which is set to begin on October 1, 2021 and run through September 30, 2022. The …


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One Founder’s Lessons Learned in a Year Like No Other

This blog post was written by Aasimah Navlakhi, CEO of BES. BES Fellows spend countless hours, days, weeks, and months planning, working in high-performing schools as resident leaders, distributing thousands of flyers, …