States to Let Special Boards Award Charters

Steps taken to allow authorizing outside the scope of local districts.

Three states—Florida, New Mexico, and South Carolina—have recently passed legislation allowing statewide bodies to approve new charter schools and oversee them, rather than leaving those responsibilities solely in the hands of local school districts.

The bills were driven at least in part by concerns that some districts don’t welcome the independent but publicly financed schools, and sometimes are actively hostile to them. Some charter advocates also argue that the changes will lead to higher-quality charter schools.

“State policymakers are now realizing that a key to quality charter schools is the authorizing function,” said Greg Richmond, the president of the Alexandria, Va.-based National Association of Charter School Authorizers. “That’s relatively new. … Ten years ago, state...