The legal status of a charter school has a significant impact on that school's responsibility and autonomy, especially as it relates to special education. According to federal law under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), responsibility for special education falls with the state education agencies (SEAs), which in turn delegate that responsibility to the local education agencies (LEAs). In the traditional school structures envisioned when these laws were written, the individual school districts within a state served as the LEA. Charter schools, however, were created after IDEA was passed and individual state charter laws determine whether the school is part of an existing LEA or whether the school itself serves as its own independent LEA. In some instances, charters are part of the LEA for certain services, but an independent LEA for others. When a public charter school is part of an existing LEA, they share the responsibility for special education with the larger district. The LEA status is, therefore, crucial to understanding how a charter school functions. This brief outlines the pros and cons associated with each LEA status option in order to better understand how this legal distinction impacts provision of special education services.