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Informed and inclusive charter school authorizing means taking a community-based approach to better understand and meet the needs and interests of the students, families, and communities that charter schools intend to serve.

This shift is unfolding in the context of state statutes and regulations and, in some places, local policies or processes that require authorizers to assess “district impact”—that is, the impact of opening a new charter school on traditional public schools or the district as a whole.

This brief supports charter school authorizers in making decisions rooted in evidence of local communities’ wants and needs as well as analysis and projections about the impact on traditional public schools and the school district as a whole.