School districts are an integral part of the U.S. education system. Every state in the nation guarantees citizens free public education. To ensure all students are served, the states divide their land into school districts intended to provide all students with reasonable access to a school near where they live. These districts exist as units of local administration over a particular geographic space. The boundaries of school districts may or may not overlap with county, city, or town boundaries. Charter schools often operate independently from the local school district, so additional care is necessary when folding them into any district-based analyses. This white paper aims to explain the ways in which charter schools are captured in the National Alliance of Public Charter Schools (National Alliance) data and explore ways to adjust the school district status to better understand how charter schools serve their local communities.