The University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, has created a similar fee-based system for sponsorship, based on the enrollments of each charter school it authorizes. At worst, it represents a potential conflict of interest that could impede a college's objectivity as both a partner and sponsor of a particular charter school. In response to this early experience and limitations in relying only on existing sponsors, a number of states are now looking at creating new agencies that do nothing but authorize and oversee charter schools. In addition, charter advocates in Michigan, Illinois and Minnesota are now developing proposals for a state-level specialized chartering authority. And, under Pennsylvania's charter law, a new specialized state charter school appeals board will be activated later this year.
Proposals are more likely to be considered and approved or rejected on their merits.
The opportunity to develop specialized expertise in both approving charters and providing on-going oversight, recognizing the fact that charter school oversight and accountability is fundamentally different from the rules and mandates used in the traditional district environment. Statewide perspective , linking to and consistent with state-level education improvement strategies but, again, independent from competing or conflicting missions, political pressures or bureaucratic resistance to change. In both Arizona and the District of Columbia, the specialized chartering authorities have even more rigorous approval and oversight requirements than other sponsors including school districts and, in Arizona, the state board of education. Rather, the principal goal is to create a more innovative and objective environment in which proposals can be considered on their merits and in which new and more effective means of oversight can be devised and implemented. Ground rules for establishing new, specialized chartering authorities To achieve this goal, care must be taken in setting the ground rules under which new, specialized chartering authorities are created, staffed and financed.