Colorado Association of Charter School Authorizers (CACSA)
CACSA is a Colorado non-profit organization dedicated to helping all Colorado authorizers improve their practices. CACSA assists authorizers in adopting best practices that align with Colorado’s policies and culture of local control. CACSA members include the professionals that work directly on the task of authorizing charter schools both within school districts and the Colorado Charter School Institute. CACSA’s work is informed by nine organizing principles.
Who We Are
CACSA was formed by and serves the professional staff in Colorado authorizers who work on all tasks associated with charter school oversight. These education leaders created CACSA to support all of Colorado’s authorizers, with the goals of improving charter school authoring practices, the quality of charter schools, and the education for all students in the state. Current CACSA members oversee about two-thirds of Colorado’s charter schools and the organization is open to all authorizers.
We thank our members for their ongoing support, and we encourage all professional staff working in Colorado districts involved in charter school authorizing to join us in this important work.
Special Education
CACSA is working to improve access, services and outcomes for students with disabilities in charter schools. CACSA is developing materials and professional development opportunities that help authorizers and charter schools work together so that charter schools can appropriately serve all students.
Did You Know?
- Colorado has 46 charter school authorizers including 45 school districts and the Charter School Institute, however all of the state’s districts are potential authorizers.
- Colorado has 250 charter schools serving 120,000 students, or about 13 percent of all public school students in the state.
- 21.1% of charter school students are English Language Learners and 7.1% are students with disabilities
- Charter school authorizers are responsible for all aspects of charter school oversight, including deciding which charter applications are approved and allowed to open; monitoring their performance and compliance with applicable laws and rules; and evaluating their performance at the end of their charter contract and deciding which charter schools should be renewed and which should be closed.