| Alaska : Charter Schools (2005) |
Both the local school board and the state board of education must approve application. |
| Arizona : Charter Schools (2005) |
Local school board, the state board of education or the state board for charter schools. |
| Arkansas : Charter Schools (2005) |
For both conversion and open enrollment charter schools, both the local school board and the state board of education must approve the application. |
| California : Charter Schools (2005) |
Local school board or county board of education. The state board of education may approve charter schools operating in multiple sites throughout the state. If all sites are within a given county, however, the petition for the charter must go to the county board. |
| Colorado : Charter Schools (2005) |
A charter school applicant may submit an application to the local school board or, if the school district in which the charter school is to be located has not retained exclusive authority to authorize charter schools from the state board of education, to the state charter school institute. The state board of education automatically grants exclusive authority to authorize charter schools to: school districts where the total pupil enrollment is less than 3,000 pupils; school districts where the percentage of pupils who are eligible for free or reduced-cost lunch and who enrolled in charter schools authorized by the school district is greater than the percentage that is one percentage point below the overall percentage of pupils eligible for free or reduced-cost lunch who are enrolled in the school district; or school districts that annually certify to the state board of education that the total number of students enrolled in charter schools authorized by the school district, or the maximum number of students allowed to be enrolled pursuant to charter school contracts entered into by the school district, whichever is greater, divided by the district pupil enrollment for that budget year and reflected as a percentage, exceeds by more than three percentage points the percentage of students enrolled in charter schools statewide. |
| Connecticut : Charter Schools (2005) |
Local charter schools must be approved by the local or regional board of education and the state board of education. State charter schools must be approved by the state board of education. |
| Delaware : Charter Schools (2005) |
For conversions, local school boards. For start-ups, local school boards or the state secretary of education and the state board of education. |
| District of Columbia : Charter Schools (2005) |
District of Columbia Board of Education and the District of Columbia Public Charter School Board. |
| Florida : Charter Schools (2005) |
Local school boards. Also, state universities may grant a charter to a lab school and community college district boards of trustees may grant a charter to a charter technical career center. |
| Georgia : Charter Schools (2005) |
Both the local school board and the state board of education must approve application. |
| Hawaii : Charter Schools (2005) |
State board of education, upon recommendation of the new century charter school review panel. |
| Idaho : Charter Schools (2005) |
Only local school boards may approve conversion charter schools. Local school boards and the state public charter school commission may approve start-up charter schools. |
| Illinois : Charter Schools (2005) |
Local school boards. Also, a local school board shall, whenever petitioned to do so by 5% or more of the voters of a school district or districts identified in a charter school proposal, order submitted to the voters thereof at a regularly scheduled election the question of whether a new charter school shall be established. If the majority of voters approve the referendum, the state board of education shall enter into a contract with the charter school. |
| Indiana : Charter Schools (2005) |
Local school boards, public universities that offer a four-year baccalaureate degree or persons assigned under the direction of the university's board (although a university may not sponsor a charter school in Marion County until after June 30, 2005), or the mayor of Indianapolis, upon approval of a majority of the members of the city's legislative body. Also, before granting a charter under which more than 50% of the students in a district will attend a charter school, a local school board must receive the approval of the state department of education. |
| Iowa : Charter Schools (2005) |
Both the local school board and the state board of education must approve a charter application. |
| Kansas : Charter Schools (2005) |
Both the local school board and the state board of education must approve a charter application. |
| Louisiana : Charter Schools (2005) |
Local school boards and the state board of education. |
| Maryland : Charter Schools (2005) |
Local school boards. However, under certain conditions specified in the state's charter school law, the state board of education can approve the restructuring of a public school as a charter school. |
| Massachusetts : Charter Schools (2005) |
For commonwealth charter schools, the state board of education. For Horace Mann charter schools, the state board of education, assuming that the application for a charter received approval from the local school committee and local teachers union. |
| Michigan : Charter Schools (2005) |
Local school boards, intermediate school boards, community colleges or state public universities, all subject to state board of education review for compliance with law. |
| Minnesota : Charter Schools (2005) |
Local school boards, intermediate school boards, cooperatives, nonprofit organizations, public postsecondary institutions or private colleges, all subject to approval by the state commissioner of education. |
| Mississippi : Charter Schools (2005) |
Both the local school board and the state department of education must approve application. |
| Missouri : Charter Schools (2005) |
The Kansas City and St. Louis school boards, a community college in the Kansas City and St. Louis school districts or a public four-year college or university located in the Kansas City and St. Louis school districts or in a county adjacent to the county in which the districts are located with an approved teacher education program that meets regional or national standards of accreditation. If a charter is approved by a sponsor, it is submitted to the state board of education, which may disapprove the granting of the charter within a specified time period. |
| Nevada : Charter Schools (2005) |
A charter applicant may apply to either a local school board or the state board of education. A local school board may apply to the state department of education for authorization to sponsor charter schools within the school district. A local school board's application must be approved by the state department of education before the local school board may sponsor a charter school. A charter school application approved by a local school board must also be approved by the state department of education. |
| New Hampshire : Charter Schools (2005) |
In one route, the local school board and the state department of education must approve the application. In a second route, in place between July 1, 2003, and June 30, 2013, only the state board of education must approve the application. |
| New Jersey : Charter Schools (2005) |
The state commissioner of education. |
| New Mexico : Charter Schools (2005) |
Local school boards. |
| New York : Charter Schools (2005) |
Local school boards and the Chancellor of the New York City Public Schools may approve conversions and start-ups. The State University of New York board of trustees and the State Board of Regents may approve start-ups. The New York State Board of Regents must also approve any charter application approved by another entity. |
| North Carolina : Charter Schools (2005) |
Local school boards, the University of North Carolina or the state board of education. Charter schools approved by local school boards and the University of North Carolina must also be approved by the state board of education. |
| Ohio : Charter Schools (2005) |
For conversion charter schools, local school boards. For start-up charter schools in "big eight" school districts, "academic emergency" school districts, "academic watch" school districts and school districts that are part of the pilot project area: local school boards; boards of joint vocational school districts; boards of educational service centers; state universities, as approved by the state department of education; federally tax-exempt entities, as approved by the state department of education; or, when another authorizer fails to comply with its obligation as a sponsor, the state department of education. |
| Oklahoma : Charter Schools (2005) |
Charter schools shall only be sponsored by a school district or an area vocational-technical school district in districts with an average daily membership of 5,000 or more and which all or part of the school district is located in a county having more than 500,000 residents or in a county which is contiguous with a county having more than 500,000 residents, provided no charter school shall be chartered in School District I029 in County No. 14 and School District I027 in County No. 9. |
| Oregon : Charter Schools (2005) |
Local school boards. |
| Pennsylvania : Charter Schools (2005) |
Local school boards. Two or more local school boards may grant regional charters. |
| Puerto Rico : Charter Schools (2005) |
Education Reform Institute. |
| Rhode Island : Charter Schools (2005) |
State board of regents, after charter school has been approved by local school board or state commissioner of elementary and secondary education. |
| South Carolina : Charter Schools (2005) |
An applicant must first submit an application to the state-level charter school advisory committee, who determines whether the application is in compliance. If so, the application is forwarded to the local school board, who then determines whether or not to approve the application. |
| Tennessee : Charter Schools (2005) |
Local school boards. |
| Texas : Charter Schools (2005) |
Local school boards for school district-approved charters. State board of education for open-enrollment charters. |
| Utah : Charter Schools (2005) |
Local school boards and the state charter school board, subject to state board of education approval. |
| Virginia : Charter Schools (2005) |
Local school board. Two or more local school boards can sponsor a regional charter school. |
| Wisconsin : Charter Schools (2005) |
Outside of Milwaukee, local school boards. In addition, the University of Wisconsin-Parkside may sponsor one charter school. In Milwaukee, the local school board, city of Milwaukee, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee or Milwaukee Area Technical College. |
| Wyoming : Charter Schools (2005) |
Local school boards. |