The Problem

Hundreds of communities and neighborhoods throughout Illinois are badly in need of better schools. In those communities it should be a realistic option for innovative educators to create new school choices for students and their families.

The past fifteen years have witnessed the creation and spread of a new kind of public school: charter schools. Across the state, charter schools are now providing Illinois communities with precisely the kind of education parents have long demanded for their children.

Unfortunately, Illinois law significantly limits the ability of charter schools to spread throughout across the state. Illinois gives local school districts almost complete control over the charter school application process, which is problematic for several reasons: most school districts are too small to take on the responsibility of monitoring a charter school; are unconvinced of the good that charter schools can bring; or are too protective of district schools that would face competition from a new charter school.

In other words, the charter approval process in Illinois often proves to be a conflict of interest for school districts–and can be equated to requiring a new restaurant to get permission to open from a competing restaurant already located across the street.

 The Solution 

A new report by the Illinois Policy Institute examines charter school authorization policies throughout the country and concludes that Illinois should:

• Create a new, independent entity to approve and monitor charter schools. This would give would-be charter school operators the choice of applying through school districts or an entity created specifically to monitor and work with charter schools.
• Investigate whether existing agencies (such as state universities and local governments) can also be empowered to serve as charter school authorizers.

Why This Works

Other states, including Missouri and Indiana, have given city halls and public universities the power to authorize charter schools. In our nation’s capital, the District of Columbia Public Charter School Board was created solely to vet charter applications and to supervise the charter schools it approved. These policies have been successful, and charter schools in these regions have grown steadily while posting impressive gains.

In Illinois, charter schools are exceedingly popular with parents—so much so that there are massive waiting lists to get into charter schools across the state. Charters consistently perform above the norm of district schools—but unfortunately, due to state law and restrictions on authorization, their numbers remain low.

Creating an independent route to authorization would allow successful charter schools to open in communities that heretofore have been left out of the charter school movement. Dozens of communities and thousands of students would welcome the creation of charter schools that can meet their diverse needs.