The charter school industry — consisting of schools that are funded partly by tax dollars but run independently — may be heading toward a bubble similar to that of the subprime mortgage crisis, according to a study published by four education researchers.

The study, "Are charter schools the new subprime loans?," warns of a number of factors that appear to be edging the charter industry toward a bubble premeditated by the same factors that incentivized banks to start originating risky mortgage loans.

With charters, school authorizers play the role of "mortgage originators." They have the power to decide whether to issue a new charter school. There are a number of different types of authorizers from state education agencies to independent charter school boards. The majority of authorizers are local education agencies (LEAs).