Legislative Timing Exhibit N-2 illustrates the relationship between the age of charter legislation and the types of entities permitted to charter schools, their roles and responsibilities, and the types of reporting requirements that are expected of charter school authorizers.
Several findings are interesting here.
First, although states identify multiple entities for chartering schools regardless of when legislation was passed, the distribution across states differs depending on the year passed. For example, in early states, the proportions allowing local school districts, school boards, and state boards of education to charter were comparable to one another. By contrast, states with recent legislation are much more variable, and local school boards, state boards of education, and universities have become more commonly included in charter legislation. This trend is consistent with both federal legislation and the thinking of charter school proponents, who argue for the value of different types of charter school authorizer. In the domain of roles and responsibilities, although virtually all states require review of the charter document and student achievement, there appears to be a trend over time that fewer states expect that charter school authorizers will administer budgets or personnel, or provide services to charter schools.