Charter School Authorizers in New York State
While the New York State Charter School Law recognizes four charter school authorizers1, only two are empowered to approve new charter schools. The New York State Education Department’s Charter Schools Office (SED) and the State University of New York’s Charter Schools Institute (CSI) oversee new charter school application rounds each year. If you want to create a new charter school, you will need to select either SED or CSI as your preferred authorizer.
When selecting the charter school authorizer to which you want to apply, you’ll want to examine each carefully. Fortunately, both SED and CSI have prepared and posted online exhaustive information and materials to help you navigate the charter school application process and distinguish between them. New York’s charter authorizers have consistently been ranked among the best charter authorizers in the country, largely because of the excellence of their charter application and charter renewal processes. If you are considering creating a new charter school, we strongly encourage you to visit the following websites:
- The New York State Education Department’s Charter Schools Office http://www.p12.nysed.gov/psc/
- Specific information and guidance on applying to SED can be found at: http://www.p12.nysed.gov/psc/startcharter/startcharter2019.html
- The State University of New York’s Charter Schools Office http://www.p12.nysed.gov/psc/
- Specific information and guidance on applying to CSI can be found at: http://www.newyorkcharters.org/request-proposals-process/
1 The New York State Board of Regents/New York State Education Department’s Charter Schools Office (SED)), the New York State University Board of Trustees/the State University of New York’s Charter Schools Institute (CSI), the New York City Department of Education Department of Education (NYC DOE) and the Buffalo Public Schools (BPS). While NYC DOE and BPS oversee charter schools that they approved prior to the most recent Charter Schools Law, only SED and CSI are currently authorized to approve new charter schools.