ABSTRACT
Charter schools have evolved on a state-by-state basis, and each state's charter-enabling legislation is unique, there is no charter school state that can be considered truly representative of all others, or of the movement as a whole. The New York Charter Schools Act of 1998 was passed late in the year—right before the state legislature's December recess. Since 1998, the Charter Schools Institute at the State University of New York has established itself as a resource and advocate for charter schools. As of October 2001, nearly 200 charter schools, or Public School Academies (PSAs) as they are called in Michigan, were open for business. The current law authorizes a maximum of six charter schools statewide—one in the Mississippi Delta region and one in each of the state's five congressional districts. Only conversion schools are permitted, and teachers in charter schools remain employees of the local district.
