Illinois law contains a limit of 120 charter schools, with a maximum of 75 in Chicago and 45 in the rest of the state. It reserves five of the charters in Chicago for drop-out recovery schools.

Illinois law allows new start-ups, public school conversions, and virtual schools.

Illinois law allows local school boards to serve as authorizers.  If an applicant is denied at the local level, it may apply to the State Charter School Commission.  In addition, a charter school authorized by a local school board may apply to the State Charter School Commission at the time of charter contract renewal.  

The law also requires a local school board, whenever petitioned to do so by 5% or more of the voters of a school district or districts identified in a charter school proposal, to submit to the voters at a regularly scheduled election the question of whether a new charter school shall be established. The law provides that if the majority of voters approve the referendum, the State Charter School Commission must enter into a contract with the charter school.

Every odd-numbered year, the law requires all authorizers to submit a report to the state board of education that includes the authorizer’s strategic vision for chartering and process toward achieving that vision; the academic and financial performance of all operating charter schools; the status of the authorizer’s charter school portfolio; and the authorizing functions provided to the charter schools including operating costs and expenses as detailed in annual audited financial statements. 

Every even-numbered year, the state board of education must issue a report to the General Assembly and the Governor containing the aggregate findings from the authorizer reports, information comparing charter school performance with that of traditional schools similarly situated, a review of the regulations and policies from which charter schools are exempted, and suggestions.  

Based on this information and their on-going monitoring of both schools and authorizers, the state board of education has the power to remove the power to authorize from any authorizer in the state, and as needed, revoke the chronically low-performing charter schools approved by that authorizer.

Illinois law allows the State Charter School Commission to charge up to 3% of the revenues provided to its approved schools. 

The law requires authorizers to detail the authorizing functions provided to their charter schools, including operating costs and expenses as detailed in annual audited financial statements, every two years.

Illinois law provides application elements for all schools.

Illinois law provides additional application elements specific to conversion schools.

Additionally, the law establishes that authorizers  must give priority to those schools demonstrating a high level of community support with rigorous levels of expected pupil achievement and designed to enroll a high percentage of at-risk students.  

The law requires authorizers  to set a public hearing within 45 days of receipt of application and to determine a decision within 30 days of the public hearing in a public forum.

Under Illinois law, reports of denials, revocations or non-renewals must consist of the charter proposal or current charter contract voted upon by the authorizers. The law requires the authorizers  to send a copy of each board's resolution setting forth the board's action and its reasons for the action to the state board of education.

Illinois law provides that a certified charter proposal constitutes a binding contract and agreement between the charter school and a local school board under the terms of which the local school board authorizes the governing body of the charter school to operate the charter school, including the roles, powers, and responsibilities of the charter school and the pupil performance standards to be achieved by the charter school. But such contracts are not required to be separate contracts signed by both legal parties.

Illinois law provides that a charter may be granted for not less than five years and not more than 10 years.

Illinois law now specifically states the powers of authorizers to include the monitoring and oversight of charter schools. 

The law requires charter schools to submit annual audits of their financial and administrative operations as conducted by an independent auditor.

The law does not require schools or authorizers to develop annual school performance reports that are made public, nor does it require the collection and analysis of student outcome data annually by authorizers. Instead, it requires authorizers to submit a bi-annual report regarding their schools to the state board of education.

Illinois law requires charter schools to submit a renewal proposal to its authorizer.

The law allows a charter to be revoked for committing a material violation of any of the conditions, standards or procedures set forth in the charter, failing to meet or make reasonable progress toward achievement of the content standards or pupil performance standards identified in the charter, failing to meet generally accepted standards of fiscal management or violating any provision of law from which the charter school was not exempted. 

The law provides that a charter may be renewed in incremental periods not to exceed five years.

In the case of revocation, the law requires the authorizer to notify the charter school in writing of the reason why the charter is subject to revocation. It requires the charter school to submit a written plan to the authorizer to rectify the problem, which must include a timeline for implementation not to exceed two years or the date of the charter's expiration, whichever is earlier. 

If the authorizer finds that the charter school has failed to implement the plan of remediation and adhere to the timeline, the law requires it to revoke the charter. Except in situations of an emergency where the health, safety, or education of the charter school's students is at risk, the law provides that the revocation must take place at the end of a school year. The law allows a charter to appeal an authorizer’s  notice of their decision to revoke or not renew a charter to the state board of education, whose decisions are subject to judicial review.

Under Illinois law, reports of denials, revocations or non-renewals must consist of the charter proposal or current charter contract voted upon by the authorizers.  The law requires the authorizers to determine a decision in a public forum and to send a copy of each board's resolution setting forth the board's action and its reasons for the action to the state board of education.

Under Illinois law, a charter school may negotiate and contract with a for profit or nonprofit private entity for: the use of a school building and grounds or any other real property or facilities that the charter school desires to use or convert for use as a charter school site, the operation and maintenance thereof, and the provision of any service, activity, or undertaking that the charter school is required to perform in order to carry out the terms of its charter. However, there are no statutory provisions guiding any ESP relationships, performance contracts, authorizer approval of contracts, and conflicts of interest.

Illinois law requires a charter school be organized and operated as a nonprofit corporation or other legal entity, governed by its own board of directors (or other governing body of a discrete legal entity already existing or established to operate the proposed school), and responsible for the management and operation of its fiscal affairs.

Illinois statute does not include all provisions that would clearly indicate that every charter school, including conversion schools, is a separate legally autonomous school (e.g., does not state that they can sue and be sued in their own names). Also, charter schools authorized by local school boards remain school district LEAs.  Charter schools approved by the State Charter School Commission, however, are their own LEA.

Illinois law requires that if there are more applicants than spaces, charter schools must choose students by lottery.Illinois law requires charter schools to give priority in admissions to siblings of pupils enrolled in the charter school and to pupils enrolled in the school the previous school year, unless expelled for cause.

Illinois law allows charter schools to give priority to pupils residing within the charter school's attendance boundary in Chicago, if a boundary has been designated by the Chicago school board (the Chicago school board may designate attendance boundaries for no more than one-third of the charter schools permitted in the city if it determines that attendance boundaries are needed to relieve overcrowding or to better serve low-income and at-risk students).

Under Illinois law, charter schools are exempt from all state laws and regulations in the school code governing public schools and local school board policies, except the following: the state's charter school law; certain sections of the school code regarding criminal background investigations of applicants for employment; certain sections of the school code regarding discipline of students; the Local Governmental and Governmental Employees Tort Immunity Act; a certain section of the General Not For Profit Corporation Act of 1986 regarding indemnification of officers, directors, employees, and agents; the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act; the Illinois School Student Records Act; and a certain section of the school code regarding school report cards.Outside of Chicago, state law requires charter schools to employ non-certified teachers if they have a bachelor's degree, five years' experience in the area of degree, a passing score on state teacher tests and evidence of professional growth and requires charter schools to provide mentoring to uncertified teachers. Beginning with the 2006-07 school year, at least 50% of the individuals employed in instructional positions by a charter school in Chicago established after April 16, 2003, shall hold teaching certificates and 75% of the individuals employed in instructional positions by a charter school in Chicago established before April 16, 2003, shall hold teaching certificates.

Illinois law provides that charter schools are exempt from district collective bargaining agreements. It also specifies that any bargaining unit of charter school employees that is formed must be separate and distinct from any bargaining units formed from employees of a school district in which the charter school is located.

Current law allows the first 15 charter contracts in Chicago to include multiple schools with independent fiscal and academic accountability for each school, but prohibits such an arrangement in charter contracts beyond the first 15. No language exists to allow charter contracts outside the city of Chicago to include multiple schools.

Illinois law is silent about charter eligibility and access.

Illinois law addresses special education, but is unclear about responsibility for providing services and funding for low-incident, high- cost services.

Under current law, charters may receive no less than 75% and no more than 125% of what traditional public schools receive in per pupil funding.  Current law provides that charters must receive quarterly payments.

A charter school may apply for and receive, subject to the same restrictions applicable to school districts, any grant administered by the State Board that is available for school districts. (105 ILCS 5/27A-11.5(4)).

In a recent national study of charter school funding (Charter School Funding: Inequity Persists, 2010), Illinois charter schools were receiving on average $10,616 per pupil, while traditional public schools would have received $12,130 for those students.  As a result, the state's charter schools were receiving  $1,514 per pupil - or 12.5% - less than what the traditional public schools would have received for those students. This figure includes all sources of funding, and analysis reveals continued inequities for both operational and capital funding (see component #19 for information on capital issues).

Illinois law provides that charter schools can access tax-exempt revenue bond and lease financing for capital projects through the Illinois Finance Authority.
Illinois law also creates a revolving loan fund that provides interest-free loans to charter schools for acquiring and remodeling facilities, but is currently not funding it.

Illinois law provides that certified teachers in Chicago must participate in the Chicago Teacher Pension Fund, but non-certified teachers may only participate if permitted in their school’s charter contract.  The law also provides that non-Chicago teachers must participate in the State Pension Fund.