Whitney Spalding Spencer

Director of Authorizer Development

Whitney Spalding Spencer is Director of Authorizer Development at NACSA. She is responsible for managing NACSA’s federal Charter Schools Program National Activities Grant work focused on identifying and disseminating authorizer best practices in charter school performance management, replication, and closure. Whitney previously served as the Director of Recruitment and Selection at the Chicago Public Schools Office of New Schools where she oversaw the recruitment and authorization of new charter and contract schools for the nation’s third largest school district. Whitney earned her A.B. in English from Princeton University.

Most Recent Posts

NACSA statement on recent decision in Oklahoma about religious charter schools

NACSA is disappointed in the recent decision by a federal judge in Oklahoma, allowing The Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School Foundation to continue with plans to open a religious charter...

Public charter schools are not religious schools

In 2025, a divided U.S. Supreme Court preserved an Oklahoma Supreme Court ruling that blocked the application for what could have become the country’s first religious charter school, St. Isidore of Seville...

Communities want unique and innovative schools. Are authorizers ready?

By Jay Whalen From their inception, public charter schools promised to provide innovative ways to meet the students’ learning needs. At NACSA, we’re invested in helping authorizers be responsive to those needs, to ensure that...