Welcome to the National Association of Charter School Authorizers!

The National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) is a nonprofit membership association of educational agencies across the country that authorize and oversee charter public schools. Created in 2000 by a diverse group of charter school authorizers nationwide, NACSA is dedicated to supporting and strengthening the capacities of authorizers to charter successful schools.

The Association's members support charter schools as a promising strategy to expand and improve public education opportunities, and wish to work with charter schools in developing new models of school governance and accountability that can be instructive for public education broadly. 

With this goal in mind, NACSA recognizes and helps charter authorizers address the unique challenges that they face in developing and overseeing performance-focused contracts with highly diverse schools. NACSA facilitates ongoing exchange of information, ideas, lessons and effective practices among charter authorizers nationwide.

As the agencies charged with licensing and overseeing charter schools, charter authorizers are a cornerstone of the infrastructure needed for quality charter schools and can be powerful catalysts for charter development. NACSA exists to help authorizers fulfill these responsibilities and promise.

To read more about why NACSA is important to the success of charter schools and to achieve broader education reform, click on "About Us" for our December 2001 Guest Column in the ECS Governance Notes, published by the Education Commission of the States.

The Association welcomes and serves the needs of the full range of chartering authorities: school boards and districts of all sizes, state boards and departments of education, universities and colleges, municipal bodies, and independent chartering boards. All of these types of institutions are represented in NACSA’s membership.

In addition, NACSA welcomes non-charter-authorizing organizations and individuals as Associate Members. Click on "Join Us" to download our Membership or Associate Membership Form.

Our Mission Statement:

NACSA's mission is to promote the establishment and operation of quality charter schools through enlightened and responsible oversight in the public interest. The Association believes that charter schools can improve public education by creating innovative new school designs and greater educational opportunities for students and educators.


Promoting quality charter schools

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