Primer for Charter School Authorizers: Special Education Requirements and Including Students with Disabilities in Charter Schools. Revised

Overview & Synopsis

The purpose of this document is to provide charter school authorizers with targeted technical assistance related to special education in charter schools. Charter school laws are unique to each state, and they provide a wide range of policies and practices for the hundred of authorizers chartering schools nationally. As a result, providing authorizers with technical assistance related to special education is particularly challenging. However, with input from a wide range of stakeholders, the authors created this primer to provide charter authorizers with the basic information they need to advise charter schools regarding special education. The document also provides insight into the variety of policies and practices that other authorizers are implementing. This primer opens with a general background on legal issues and responsibility for special education in charter schools and then addresses the various "stages or phases of life" of a charter school, including pre-authorization; authorization; accountability and renewal; and non-renewal, revocation, and relinquishment. It is not intended to be a complete treatment of special education law or authorization practices. In fact, due to the legal foundation upon which special education is built; charter school authorizers are strongly urged to consult an attorney and experienced special education professionals as they develop their policies and practices related to special education in the charter schools they authorize. Glossary is appended. (Contains 6 footnotes.)