Charters Harder to Get Than Before, Suggests Survey of Authorizers

Charter school authorizers are getting “choosier” about which applications for schools they will accept and are basing decisions not to renew charters more on student-achievement issues than previously recognized, an analysis by a pro-charter organization finds.

At the same time, the report says, almost half of authorizers, especially smaller ones, practice “limited oversight” of their schools.

The Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, a group that strongly backs charter schools, issued two reports last week that seek to look “under the hood” of the charter school movement. One focuses on the different types of authorizers, and the other analyzes different types of the independent...