"Most participants say primary consideration should be responsible growth — if we are going to expand charter schools, then it has to be with an infrastructure that supports those schools," Rorrer said. "Do we have the resources? The staffing? Are the things in place to ensure that they can be successful?"

Before the five-school cap was ordered, the State Charter School Board was approving about 65 percent of the charter applications. Under current law schools must allow at least 10 months from the time they are approved until they begin operation — giving them time to prepare.

The study suggests allowing more preparation time to ensure a school is ready to open.

Charles Hausman, associate professor at the University of Kentucky and a UEPC research associate, said more directed studies still need to be done.

Rorrer said studies that look at how the charters serve the state's diverse population, evaluate how and if they provide unique or "innovative" practices that traditional schools don't offer, the success of individualizing the curriculum and comparing the performance of traditional and charter school students are yet to be done.

"We also need to know the impact of charters on the traditional school system," Rorrer said. "One of our suggestions is we now go forward with studies of what is the impact in terms of finances and enrollment — is there a duplication of services and if charters are really going to be a unique feature within the traditional school system."

To view the 200-page report visit elp.ed.utah.edu/policy.

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E-mail: terickson@desnews.com