Charter schools are public schools created to achieve a number of goals, including encouraging innovation in public education and addressing failing schools. Charter schools operate with more autonomy than traditional public schools in exchange for agreeing to improve student achievement, an agreement that is formalized in a contract or charter with the school’s authorizing body. From about 3,000 charter schools in school year 2003-2004 to almost 5,000 in school year 2009-20010, the number of charter schools in the United States continues to grow. Spurring this growth are parents’ and others’ desire for schools that reflect their vision of public education, and federal incentives, such as the recent $4 billion Race to the Top (RTT) competitive grant fund, which among other things, encourages the growth of high performing charter schools, and the Charter Schools Program Grants for Replication and Expansion of High Quality Charter Schools. States specify which entities within the state can authorize the establishment of a charter school, including state departments of education, state boards of education, school districts or local educational agencies (LEA), institutions of higher education, and municipal governments. Some states have also created independent charter school boards that can authorize charter schools in the state. Once charter schools are in operation, the authorizer is generally responsible for monitoring school performance and has authority to close the school or take other actions if academic goals or state financial requirements are not met. States also define how charter schools will be structured and they do so in different ways (see fig. 1). For example, unlike traditional public schools that are part of a larger LEA, some states establish charter schools as their own LEA. Other states require them to be part of a larger LEA, while still other states allow charter schools the option to choose between being a distinct LEA or part of a larger LEA. Further, some states allow charter schools to be their own LEA for some purposes and part of a larger LEA for others, including for purposes of special education. With respect to special education, two common practices are that (1) in states that define a charter school to be a part of a larger LEA, the responsibility for providing special education services to charter school students with disabilities remains with that LEA and (2) in states where charter schools are their own LEA, the state makes charter schools responsible for providing the services themselves. Like traditional public schools, charter schools are subject to a number of federal requirements. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and (IDEA), as amended, are the Individuals with Disabilities Education Actthe two primary laws that address the rights of students with disabilities to education. IDEA was enacted in 1975 and authorizes federal funding for special education and related services. For states that accept IDEA funding, the statute sets out detailed requirements regarding the provision of special education, including the requirement that children with disabilities receive a free appropriate public education. In addition, under IDEA, states must ensure that an Individualized Education Program (IEP) is developed and implemented for each student with a disability. The IEP process creates an opportunity for teachers, parents, school administrators, related services personnel, and students (when appropriate) to work together to improve educational results for children with disabilities. These requirements apply in public charter schools just as they do in traditional public schools. IDEA provides funding and assigns responsibility for complying with requirements to states, and through them, to LEAs. In ensuring that IDEA requirements are met for students with disabilities attending charter schools, states may retain that responsibility or assign it to the charter school LEA, the larger LEA to which the charter school belongs, or some other public entity. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, enacted in 1973, is a civil rights statute that prohibits discrimination against an otherwise qualified individual with a disability solely by reason of disability in any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance or under any program or activity conducted by an executive agency. Education’s Section 504 regulation states that no qualified person with a disability shall, on the basis of disability, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or otherwise be subjected to discrimination under any program or activities which receives federal financial assistance. Subpart D of Education’s regulation contains specific requirements regarding elementary and secondary education, including the provision of a free appropriate public education (FAPE) to each qualified person with a disability in the recipient’s (recipient of federal financial assistance) jurisdiction, regardless of the nature or severity of the person’s disability.state must comply with Section 504 if it receives other federal financial assistance. Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) enforces Section 504 for the department’s programs through investigation of complaints and compliance reviews that are initiated by the department. Even if a state declines IDEA funds, the Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, as amended, prohibits discrimination based on disability in public entities, including schools. The Department of Justice and OCR both have jurisdiction to investigate complaints under this title. Charter schools enrolled a lower percentage of students with disabilities than traditional public schools in both school years 2008-2009 and 2009- 2010 (see fig. 2). For example, in school year 2009-2010, there was about a 3 percentage point difference between the percentage of students with disabilities enrolled in traditional public schools and charter schools. As shown in figure 2, the percentage of students with disabilities in charter schools increased slightly between the 2 school years we examined, while the percentage of students with disabilities in traditional public schools stayed about the same. When examining enrollment levels of students with disabilities in traditional public schools and charter schools for individual states, a more varied picture emerges. In most states, charter schools enrolled a lower percentage of students with disabilities when compared to traditional public schools. For example, in the state of New Hampshire, about 6 percent of students in charter schools were students with disabilities compared to about 13 percent of students in traditional public schools. However, in eight states—Iowa, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Wyoming—charter schools enrolled the same percentage or a higher percentage of students with disabilities than traditional public schools in the state (see fig. 3). For example, in Wyoming, the enrollment level of students with disabilities in charter schools was about 4 percentage points greater than in traditional public schools. We also found that, relative to traditional public schools, the proportion of charter schools that enrolled high percentages of students with disabilities was lower overall and generally tapered off the greater the enrollment of students with disabilities. Specifically, the enrollment of students with disabilities was 8 to 12 percent at 23 percent of charter schools and 34 percent of traditional public schools. Further, when the enrollment of students with disabilities reached 12 to16 percent, about 13 percent of charter schools compared to 25 percent of traditional public schools had these enrollment levels. However, when compared to traditional public schools, a higher percentage of charter schools enrolled more than 20 percent of students with disabilities. During an interview with Education, an official noted that there has been an increase in charter schools for students with disabilities, such as schools for students with autism, for example, which may help explain this difference. Most of the 13 charter schools we visited reported using multiple strategies to publicize the availability of special education services in their school and the charter school’s presence in the community. For example, some charter school officials mentioned word-of-mouth as a way of informing parents about their school. Some also reported distributing fliers in the community, mailing fliers to parents of every kindergarten student or 5th grader, or placing ads in the local newspaper or other media. Some schools said that they did not specifically target students with disabilities. Education collects data on the number of students with disabilities, ages 14 through 21 only, who exited special education. Therefore, there are no comprehensive data for all school-aged students who leave special education. In combination with these more informal strategies, many of the charter schools we visited also said that they held an open house or meeting during which prospective students and their parents could visit the school, ask questions, and tour the school. Some saw the open houses as an opportunity to discuss the special education services they offered. Officials at one school said that their special education teachers attended the open house and discussed their program, including any limitations in the school’s special education offerings. Several of the charter schools could not accommodate all of the students wishing to enroll and held a lottery to determine admission. Some said that they had waiting lists and emphasized that they accepted students on a first come, first served basis, and thus give no preference to students with disabilities or other student subgroup. Many of the charter school officials we interviewed demonstrated awareness that inquiring about a student’s disability status on the charter school application might be perceived as an attempt to discourage enrollment and took steps to minimize the possibility. For example, in two of the states we visited, in charter schools that asked parents to fill out an application form, charter school officials said that the form did not ask questions about the student’s disability status. Once the child was accepted to the school and enrolled, some schools asked parents to fill out an enrollment form that asked for information about the child’s health history, and, if transferring from another school, about the child’s prior academic program, including receipt of special education services. Charter school officials emphasized that questions about disability status or prior receipt of special education services were not asked on the application form and made reference to state requirements that prohibited such questions before enrollment. According to state officials, such questions were prohibited to prevent charter school officials from using the information to identify students that were potentially more costly to serve and to attempt to discourage the parents from enrolling such students before an assessment of their needs was done. In contrast, some charter school officials in one of the three states we visited did include questions about receipt of special education services and whether the child had an IEP on the charter school application form.