1. Charter schools exist to give families more public school options.

Illinois created charter schools in 1996 when lawmakers enacted the Charter Schools Law as part of the School Code. The legislative intent: to “promote new options within the public school system” and encourage educational excellence through these options.⁴

The enacting clause for charter schools lists eight purposes for the Charter Schools Law⁵:

1. Improve student learning.
2. Increase learning opportunities, especially for at-risk students.
3. Encourage innovative teaching methods.
4. Introduce new or alternative measures of student learning and achievement.
5. Provide teachers with new professional opportunities and responsibilities.
6. Give parents and students more choices in the public school system.
7. Encourage parent and community involvement in public schools.
8. Hold charter schools accountable.

Charter schools are free just like traditional public schools.⁶ This makes them an accessible, alternative option to a student’s assigned neighborhood public school.

The charter school provisions were intended to be broadly administered, allowing for a proliferation of charter school options.⁷

2. Charter schools were designed to give more options to at-risk pupils.

While charter schools can enroll any student, they were specifically designed to provide more learning options for “at-risk pupils.” The statute describes these pupils as students less likely to succeed in a conventional educational setting because of physical, emotional, socioeconomic or cultural factors.⁸

Charter schools are designed to create a diversity of schools within the public school system, offering choices for families whose children need a different public school option to flourish.

3. Charter schools must adhere to certain provisions of the School Code, including state standards, as well as operational requirements.

Charter schools are subject to many of the same requirements as traditional public schools.

Illinois charter schools must comply with the same state goals, learning standards and state assessments as public schools.⁹ While charter schools have autonomy over their educational models, they cannot opt out of Illinois’ academic expectations.

Charter schools also must identify their own objectives and student performance standards as part of their charter contract proposal, and renewal can be withheld if they do not meet or make meaningful progress toward those standards.¹⁰

Charter schools also are subject to the Freedom of Information Act and the Open Meetings Act, meaning they must operate transparently. They must allow the public to attend their meetings and access their records.¹¹

Charter schools must comply with provisions in the School Code, Illinois’ Educational Labor Relations Act and other state and federal laws that pertain specifically to special education and English learners.¹² That means charter schools’ autonomy does not waive obligations to serve students with disabilities or comply with special-education requirements or remove obligations to identify and serve English learners.

They also must abide by regulations related to student discipline, student records, mandatory reporting and other similar regulations.¹³

Charter schools must also adhere to certain operational requirements. They must operate as nonprofits and cannot be religious.¹⁴ Both a board of directors and a charter contract govern charter schools.¹⁵

4. Caps limit how many charter schools can operate in Illinois and Chicago.

Illinois limits the number of charter schools allowed to operate in the state, including how many can operate in Chicago. Any parent can apply for a charter school, with enrollment then decided by lottery.

Statewide, the cap is 120 charter schools:

• 70 may operate in Chicago at one time.
• 45 may operate in the rest of the state.
• Up to an additional five can operate in Chicago if they are devoted specifically to re-enrolling high school dropouts or students 15 or 16 who are at risk of dropping out.¹⁶

Chicago charter schools have further regulations: At least five of the city’s 70 allowed charter schools must specifically serve students from low-performing or overcrowded schools.¹⁷

Additionally, charter schools approved to operate in Chicago after April 16, 2003, are limited to one campus. Schools created prior to that date can operate multiple campuses under a single charter.¹⁸

5. Charter schools must undergo local and state approval.

Illinois law requires a thorough approval process before one can operate.

The process is a series of permission gates: local approval first, Illinois State Board of Education certification second, and only then legal authority to open.

For a charter school to start serving families, a proposal must be drafted as a proposed contract, submitted to the local school board, reviewed at a public meeting, approved by a local school board vote and then certified by the state board:

1. A proposal to establish a charter school must be submitted to an “authorizer,” most often the local school board, in the form of a proposed contract between the local school board and the governing body of the charter school.¹⁹
2. The proposed contract must include specific information such as the name and location of the charter school, the grades served, its mission statement and goals, a description of its educational program and curriculum, and a proposed budget, among other things.²⁰
3. The authorizer, typically the local school board, must then evaluate the charter school proposal, including holding a public meeting to help decide whether to grant the charter proposal, voting at an additional public meeting to grant or deny the charter proposal and then filing a report on the decision with the state board.²¹
4. The state board of education has 30 days from receiving the local school board’s report to evaluate whether the proposed contract complies with state law and, if so, to certify the proposed contract.²²

Only after state board certification does the charter become a binding contract authorizing the charter school’s governing body to operate.²³ After state certification, the local board continues as the authorizer overseeing the school.

That process shows charter schools are not unregulated. But it also shows how Illinois law places new public-school options behind multiple permission gates. Families may want more choices, but a charter school must first survive local district review, public-hearing politics, statutory caps and state board certification before it can open.

6. Short renewals and closure-language threaten to destabilize charter schools.

Illinois law includes short renewal periods for charter schools and closure language. Those provisions threaten to destabilize charter schools and act as a back-door attack on charter schooling options for families. Here’s how:

Authorizers have significant control over a charter school’s renewal period

Charter schools must renew their contracts with their authorizer five school years after their initial contract with their authorizer and subsequently in different increments of up to 10 years.²⁴

While authorizers are permitted to grant full 10-year renewals to schools with a track record of improving student performance, they are not required to grant the full 10-year renewal to any charter school.²⁵ This gives the authorizer significant control over a charter school’s renewal period regardless of the school’s success in improving student outcomes.

Charter schools must meet specific criteria for renewal

Charter schools must meet all the standards and goals for academic, organizational and financial performance set forth by their authorizer to be eligible to renew for five to 10 school years.²⁶

An authorizer can revoke or not renew a charter if the school:

1. Committed a material violation of the charter agreement.
2. Failed to meet or make progress toward the content or pupil performance standards in the charter agreement.
3. Failed to meet generally accepted standards of fiscal management.
4. Violated any provision of law from which the charter was not exempted.²⁷

The state board can reverse a local school board’s renewal decision

A local school board must inform the state board if it decides to deny, revoke or not renew a charter school, and the state board can reverse the local board’s decision to revoke or not renew a charter if the school is in compliance with the Charter Schools Law and it is in the best interest of the school’s students to renew the charter agreement.²⁸

If an authorizer is revoking a charter, it must notify the school of the reasons for revocation, and the charter school must submit a plan to the authorizer outlining an up to two-year remediation plan.²⁹ If the school fails to implement its remediation plan within the outlined timeframe, the authorizer will revoke the charter at the end of the school year.³⁰

Charter contracts must include closure procedures

Illinois’ School Code also includes a procedure for closing charter schools after lawmakers added closure language in 2013.³¹ The statute requires the charter application and contract to include procedures for disposing of property and assets if the school closes. That means closure planning is built into the charter contract from the beginning.

It is good for charter schools to have accountability, but that should protect families from failing schools, not create uncertainty for successful ones. Illinois’ short renewal periods and closure planning create uncertainty and represent the burdensome process and uphill battle to start or maintain a charter school in the state.

7. Charter schools must enter a union neutrality agreement, undermining innovation.

Charter schools are required to include a union neutrality agreement in both charter contract proposals and renewals. ³²

A union neutrality clause is an agreement by a charter school to 1) be neutral regarding the unionization of its employees, 2) give labor unions access to areas where they can meet with employees to discuss their right to unionization, and 3) have union recognition verified by a neutral third-party arbitrator.³³

In effect, support a union’s attempt to organize its staff, making it easier to unionize charter schools.³⁴ But the unionization of charter schools not only restricts innovation but forces many families who had fled the militant tactics of teachers unions in public schools to once again submit to those unions’ whims.

Teachers unions hinder the growth of public charter schools

Teachers unions such as the Chicago Teachers Union have fought to keep charter schools from growing — both in collective bargaining agreements and in lobbying.

In negotiating the past three teacher contracts with Chicago Public Schools, CTU required a moratorium on the growth of charter schools. The current contract provides:

“There will be a net zero increase in the number of board-authorized charter schools over the term of this agreement and the total number of students enrolled by the 2027-28 school year will not exceed 101% of the total charter school student enrollment capacity as of school year 2023-24.”³⁵

CTU also works to prevent the growth of charter schools and the number of students who can choose them by lobbying in Springfield. From 2011 to 2022, the union registered its objection against at least three bills removing limits on the number of charter schools that can operate statewide or in the Chicago.³⁶

In 2025, two CTU-backed bills sought to create more regulations around who can be granted a charter to operate a charter school, how charter schools spend their budget and what a transition plan looks like for the closure or consolidation of a charter school.³⁷

CTU has successfully unionized some charter schools in Chicago, and that is part of leadership’s admitted plan to undermine charter schools altogether.³⁸ CTU’s plan: 1) unionize charter school employees, 2) undermine the charter schools, and then 3) absorb the schools into the district.³⁹

Illinois should support charter schools and remove barriers to their operation

Illinois is one of 47 states and the District of Columbia that allow charter schools, according to the Congressional Research Service.⁴⁰

Unlike Illinois, most do not limit the number of charter schools allowed to operate in their states. Illinois is one of 14 states and the District of Columbia to have any caps on the number of charter schools.⁴¹

Heavy regulation and union neutrality agreements have stripped Illinois charter schools of the autonomy they are designed to have, which threatens to place families under the militant and progressive union agenda plaguing traditional public schools. Meanwhile, frequent and burdensome renewal processes destabilize charter schools and the families they serve.

Lawmakers seeking to bolster public schools and enrollment should protect the rights given to public charter schools. Illinois law should encourage the expansion and operation of charter schools — not restrict a public school option that benefits thousands of students in the state.

Endnotes

^{1 National Charter School Resource Center, “What is a Charter School?,” accessed June 26, 2026, https://charterschoolcenter.ed.gov/what-charter-school}

^{2 Illinois Policy, “Pritzker Signs Charter Neutrality Bill, Chicago Teachers Union Fights to Weaken Charter Schools,” Illinois Policy, August 15, 2023, https://www.illinoispolicy.org/pritzker-signs-charter-neutrality-bill-chicago-teachers-union-fights-to-weaken-charter-schools/; Mailee Smith, “CTU Told Lawmakers What to Do over 1,360 Times in Just 6 Legislative Sessions,” Illinois Policy, June 8, 2023, https://www.illinoispolicy.org/ctu-told-lawmakers-what-to-do-over-1360-times-in-just-6-legislative-sessions/}

^{3 Illinois State Board of Education, Illinois Charter Schools: 2024-25 School Year, updated August 29, 2023, https://www.isbe.net/Documents/Charter-Schools-Count-SY2024-25.pdf.}

^{4 105 Ill. Comp. Stat. 5/Sec. 27A-2}

^{5 Ibid.}

^{6 105 Ill. Comp. Stat 5/Sec. 27A-5(e)}

^{7 105 Ill. Comp. Stat. 5/27A-2 states, “The provisions of this Article should be interpreted liberally to support the findings and goals of this Section and to advance a renewed commitment by the State of Illinois to the mission, goals, and diversity of public education.”}

^{8 105 Ill. Comp. Stat. 5/Sec. 27A-3}

^{9 105 Ill. Comp. Stat 5/Sec. 27A-6(b)}

^{10 105 Ill. Comp. Stat 5/Sec. 27A-7(a)(5) and (a)(8)}

^{11 105 Ill. Comp. Stat 5/Sec. 27A-5(c)}

^{12 105 Ill. Comp. Stat 5/Sec. 27A-5(g)}

^{13 Ibid.}

^{14 105 Ill. Comp. Stat 5/Sec. 27A-5(a)}

^{15 105 Ill. Comp. Stat 5/Sec. 27A-5(c) and 105 Ill. Comp. Stat 5/Sec. 27A-6}

^{16 105 Ill. Comp. Stat 5/27A-4(b)}

^{17 Ibid.}

^{18 105 Ill. Comp. Stat 5/27A-5(b)}

^{19 105 Ill. Comp. Stat 5/27A-7(a); The state board of education can serve as the authorizer in limited circumstances, including referendum-created charters, certain appeal situations and charters formerly authorized by the now-abolished State Charter School Commission, according to 105 Ill. Comp. Stat 5/Sec. 27A-6.5, 5/27A-9(fa) and 5/27A-7.5(k)}

^{20 105 Ill. Comp. Stat 5/27A-7.10(c)}

^{21 105 Ill. Comp. Stat 5/27A-8(a); 105 Ill. Comp. Stat 5/27A-8(c); 105 Ill. Comp. Stat 5/27A-8(e) and (f)}

^{22 105 Ill. Comp. Stat 5/27A-8(f); 105 Ill. Comp. Stat 5/27A-6(d)}

^{23 105 Ill. Comp. Stat 5/27A-6(a)}

^{24 105 Ill. Comp. Stat 5/27A-9(a)}

^{25 Ibid.}

^{26 Ibid. A charter school can’t be renewed for more than five years if its authorizer doesn’t establish goals and standards for the school.}

^{27 105 Ill. Comp. Stat 5/27A-9(c)}

^{28 105 Ill. Comp. Stat 5/27A-9(e); 105 Ill. Comp. Stat 5/27A-9(f) notes the state board becomes the authorizer for any charter school for which it reverses a local school board’s decision to revoke or not renew the charter agreement.}

^{29 105 Ill. Comp. Stat 5/27A-9(c)}

^{30 Ibid.}

^{31 105 Ill. Comp. Stat 5/27A-10.10 notes if a locally authorized charter school closes, its governing body must return all unspent public funds to its authorizer, or the local school district.  The school’s other property and assets are handled according to the charter application and contract. If the State Board authorized the charter school, unspent public funds must be returned to the State Board. The State Board then disposes of the school’s property and assets according to the charter application and contract.}

^{32 105 Ill. Comp. Stat 5/27A-7(a)(14.7); 105 Ill. Comp. Stat 5/27A-6(c-10); This is a more recent regulation charter schools must follow after it was signed into law by Gov. J.B. Pritzker in August 2023 at the behest of Illinois’ teachers unions.}

^{33 105 Ill. Comp. Stat 5/27A-3}

^{34  “What is a ‘Neutrality Agreement’ and how does it affect workers?,” National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, accessed May 20, 2024, https://www.nrtw.org/what-is-a-neutrality-agreement-and-how-does-it-affect-workers/.}

^{35 “Side Letter on Charters,” Agreement between The Board of Education of the City of Chicago and Chicago Teachers Union Local 1, American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO, accessed June 8, 2026, https://contract.ctulocal1.org/cps/charters.}

^{36 Smith, “CTU Told Lawmakers What to Do.”}

^{37 Illinois Senate Bill 144, 104th Gen. Assemb., Reg. Sess. (Ill. 2025), https://ilga.gov/Legislation/BillStatus?DocNum=144&GAID=18&DocTypeID=SB&LegId=157359&SessionID=114. The bill was re-referred to the Senate Assignments Committee on June 2, 2025.; Illinois House Bill 1387, 104th Gen. Assemb., Reg. Sess. (Ill. 2025), https://ilga.gov/Legislation/BillStatus?DocNum=1387&GAID=18&DocTypeID=HB&LegId=157333&SessionID=114. The bill was re-referred to the House Rules Committee on March 21, 2025.; Hannah Schmid, “Teachers Unions Pushing Bills to Damage Illinois Charter Schools,” Illinois Policy, March 3, 2025, https://www.illinoispolicy.org/teachers-unions-pushing-bills-to-damage-illinois-charter-schools/.}

^{38 Mailee Smith, “Chicago Teachers Union Took over Acero Charter Schools to Stifle Parents’ Rights,” Illinois Policy, December 23, 2024, https://www.illinoispolicy.org/chicago-teachers-union-took-over-acero-charter-schools-to-stifle-parents-rights/.}

^{39 Ibid.}

^{40 Skinner, R. R. (2026, May 12). ESEA: Charter Schools Program (IF12601, Version 4). Congressional Research Service. https://www.everycrsreport.com/files/2026-05-12_IF12601_9e40c3c643037e2cc4cb4c9675bfb179928ad870.pdf}

^{41 National Conference of State Legislatures. (2025, July 21). Education choice state policy scan: Charter schools. https://www.ncsl.org/education/education-choice-state-policy-scan-charter-schools}