New York law contains a cap of 200 start-up charter schools. It provides that 100 of these charter schools may be authorized by the State University of New York (SUNY), and 100 of them may be authorized by the State Board of Regents. In addition, it provides that 50 of the second 100 charter schools must be located in New York City, with the other 50 located throughout the rest of the state.

Under New York law, applicants can apply directly to a district board of education, SUNY, or the State Board of Regents. SUNY and the State Board of Regents have statewide chartering authority.

SUNY's authorizing activities are funded in a unique away -- through two separate appropriations in the New York State Budget. The State Education Department's appropriation includes the majority of this funding within its allocation for "aid to localities." The rest of the funding comes from SUNY's appropriation, under the allocation for "university-wide systems."

Under New York law, successful applicants must enter into a formal charter agreement with their authorizer. The law provides that such contacts must explicitly include the elements identified in the section of the New York Charter Schools Act relating to applications, including the roles and responsibilities of the school and of the authorizeer, student achievement goals, and methods to determine if students have attained the skills and knowledge specified in those goals.
In practice, charter schools in New York are generally held accountable for additional academic and operational expectations incorporated by their authorizer into the charter agreement. This practice is consistent with New York charter law, which states that the charter agreement shall include any other terms or conditions, not inconsistent with law, agreed upon by the applicant and the charter entity. The SUNY Trustees, for example, utilize a particularly comprehensive charter agreement.

New York law provides that the initial term may not exceed five years.

New York law requires schools seeking renewal to apply for it.
The law provides that renewal applications must include a report on progress towards the school's educational objectives, financial statement, annual reports, and indications of parent and student satisfaction.

For renewal, the law references the same criteria that applies to the approval of initial charter applications - an applicant must meet applicable legal requirements, demonstrate the ability to operate in an educationally and fiscally sound manner, and show it is likely to improve student learning and achievement and further the purposes of the law.

New York law provides that the renewal term may not exceed five years.

New York law provides that revocation or termination may be based on insufficient student achievement, serious violations of law, material and substantial violations of the charter, or violations of civil service laws relating to employee rights.

New York law requires authorizers to provide schools facing closure with a notice of intent to revoke the charter, an opportunity to be heard, and time to correct the problems identified.

As with the initial applications, the law requires district authorizers to forward renewal applications they support to the State Board of Regents for final approval. The law also requires the SUNY to forward approved renewal applications to the State Board of Regents, but SUNY can override any rejection by the State Board of Regents.

The law does not state that renewal and closure decisions must be made at a public meeting, but authorizers are subject to the state open meetings law.

New York law requires applicants to establish viable processes for closure and dissolution.

New York law provides that charter schools are education corporations, and deems them independent and autonomous public schools.
The law provides that charter boards of trustees are autonomous, and that the powers of charter boards of trustees includes the full set of rights of trustees under the not-for-profit corporation law of the state.

New York law provides that a charter school must meet the same health and safety, civil rights, and student assessment requirements applicable to other public schools, except as otherwise specifically provided in the state's charter school law. It provides that a charter school is exempt from all other state and local laws, rules, regulations or policies governing public or private schools, boards of education and school districts, including those relating to school personnel and students, except as specifically provided in the school's charter or in the state's charter school law. Also, nothing in the state's charter school law affects the requirements of compulsory education established in state law.
New York law states that up to 5 teachers or 30% of a school's teaching staff (whichever is less) may be uncertified.

New York law forbids an education corporation operating a charter school from operating more than one school.

New York law is not explicit about which entity is the LEA responsible for providing special education services. In practice, the district of charter student residence is the LEA for special education purposes. The law provides charter schools with the choice of whether to provide services directly, hire a third party to provide them, or ask the district to provide them. It does not say whether the district must fund the provision of these services when schools opt to have the district provide services, but they do so in practice.
There are provisions in the law and regulations that provide supplemental high cost aid to for high-cost services for charter schools for students with low incidence, relatively severe disabilities.

New York law provides a charter schools stimulus fund, which provides discretionary financial support to charter schools for start-up costs and for costs associated with the acquisition, renovation and construction of school facilities. Currently, the state has appropriated approximately $3 million to this fund.
New York law defines charter schools as public agents that are eligible to obtain tax-exempt financing through various local industrial development agencies.

Under New York law, charter schools are subject to local land-use and zoning and building codes applicable to non-public schools which are considered less restrictive than state educational building codes applicable to district public schools.