NACSA Blog

NACSA Blog

Press Releases


NACSA President Calls on US House of Representatives to Support the Every Student Succeeds Act

This week, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) will come before the US House of Representatives for a floor vote.  The current legislative proposal, which is a reauthorization of the Elementary and …


NACSA Disappointed in Washington State Supreme Court Decision

Yesterday, the Washington Supreme Court ruled it will not reconsider its earlier decision that invalidates the state’s charter school law. In response, Greg Richmond, president and CEO of the National Association of …


NACSA Comments on Congress’s Progress on Long-Stalled Education Policy Rewrite

Last week, our nation’s lawmakers announced that they have developed a framework for moving forward on a long-stalled rewrite of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). In response, Greg Richmond, president and CEO …


NACSA urges Authorizers and Policymakers to take action on Virtual Schools given CREDO Report

Authorizers need to consider credible evidence when considering online charter schools in their community. This week, the Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) released a ground-breaking report on virtual schools which found …


NACSA responds to the Center for Media and Democracy’s Report “Charter School Black Hole”

The National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) is a non-profit, professional organization that has worked with states, school districts and other authorizers to strengthen charter school oversight across the country for …


NACSAns in New Orleans: We Want to Connect With You

The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools is hosting its annual Charter Schools Conference in New Orleans next week. Come hear some of our perspectives, and let’s build the knowing and doing base deeper and wider. Let’s connect names to faces to ideas to actions.


Ohio Charter Sponsor Rankings Continue to Tackle the Accountability Issue

This week, the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) announced the latest round of ratings for Ohio charter school authorizers, also known as sponsors, in the state. The ratings take a close look …


NACSA Congratulates Senior Advisor Nelson Smith, Newest Charter School Hall of Fame Inductee

Chicago, lll. – The National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) is pleased to congratulate Senior Advisor Nelson Smith on his election into the National Charter School Hall of Fame, an honor …


NACSA Helps Build Charter School Authorizing Talent with Launch of Fellowship in Partnership with University of Minnesota

Chicago, Ill. – Nearly 25 years after passing the nation’s first charter school legislation, Minnesota continues to lead charter school education with the launch of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers …


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 …