In Illinois, any school district that has a certified contract with a charter school is considered an authorizer. As a charter authorizer, school districts can approve or deny the application for a new charter school or the renewal of an existing charter school, in accordance with
Section 27A of the Illinois School Code.
The Illinois State Board of Education has compiled criteria for each Illinois charter school authorizer based on
Section 27A of the Illinois School Code and
Section 650 of the Administrative Code. These Principles and Standards for Authorizing Charter Schools are aligned with the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) and lie at the heart of the authorizing endeavor. All authorizers should be guided by and fulfill these principles in all aspects of their work.
Public Act 104-0251 mandates that "on or before September 30 of every odd-numbered year, all local school boards with at least one charter school are required to submit a report to the State Board containing any information required by the State Board pursuant to applicable rule." (See
23 Ill. Admin. Code 650.55) ISBE creates, distributes, and collects the Authorizer Report’s and must make the complete report for each charter authorizer publicly available on the State Board’s website by November 1st of every odd-numbered year. The current reports are linked under each local district’s dropdown tab on this page.
