Charter school development is a critical part of Chancellor Klein’s Children First initiative and serves as one of his key strategies to provide more high-quality schools from which New York City students and families can choose. Each charter school in New York City has a not-for-profit board of trustees that proposes the charter school to one of three government entities that can authorize the proposal. Charter school boards of trustees typically include a mix of educational experts, business leaders, community members, and parents.

The three charter authorizing entities in New York City are the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE), the New York Board of Regents (which votes on recommendations from SED, the State Education Department), and the State University of New York (SUNY).

Since 2002, 45 new public charter schools have opened in New York City, bringing the total number of public charter schools in the City to 60. This count will continue to grow with the new charter schools anticipated to open in September 2008. The NYCDOE has set a goal to open dozens more charter schools in the City by 2010.

In early summer 2008, the NYCDOE will begin accepting proposals for charter schools for the next authorization cycle. Our informational packet for next year's cycle is now available through the links below. This Charter Application Packet 2008 outlines the process and deliverables required of charter planning teams that wish to apply to open charter schools in September 2009 and beyond.

Please note that the NYCDOE has adjusted the application deliverables due through this year’s authorization cycle such that we no longer will require a concept paper (which used to be an additional deliverable that was an abridged version of application). Instead, this year the NYCDOE will require only a full application due on June 4, 2008. The application guidelines (link below) have been adjusted accordingly.