September 2014 - Grow Schools

Welcome to Charter School Capital’s weekly round-up where we feature charter school news about operations, policy, funding for charter schools, charter school facilities financing, and other trends.
It’s officially the first week of fall, and with school back in full-swing we’ve compiled a few updates including one from California and Florida. Tell us your thoughts and leave a comment.

Tell Your Students: CA State Board of Education is Looking for a Student Member

The California State Board of Education (SBE) is looking fora public high school senior to serve as a Student Board Member. Does your charter school have a student who might be a candidate?
From the application page: “Any student who is a California resident and enrolled in a public high school, will be a senior in good standing in the 2015–16 school year, and will be available to attend a statewide student leader conference November 11-14, 2014 in Sacramento, is eligible to apply.”
For more information, including the 2015–16 Student SBE Member application, please visit the SBE Student Member Application Web page, or contact the SBE by email at sbe@cde.ca.gov or by telephone at 916-319-0691.
Applications must be received by the SBE by 5:00 p.m., Monday, October 20, 2014

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Join Charter School Capital for a Webinar on Charter School Facilities Financing

We’re excited to be partnering with Procopio to lead a discussion on various charter school faciltiies options.
Presented by our president and CEO, Stuart Ellis, and Chip Eady, a lawyer with Procopio who specializes in education facilities and land development, this webinar will cover various financing options and best practices for facilities planning.

If you’d like to register, we recommend doing so as soon as possible, as we only have a few seats left, and registration closes on Monday, September 29th.

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Florida Board of Education Adopting New Charter School Contract

When the Florida Board of Education meets in Tampa at the end of September, they will be moving forward with adopting a standard charter school contract.
According to an article in the Tampa Bay Times, “The recommended new rule makes clear that the standard contract would serve as the basis for an initial draft contract. Both charter applicants and districts would be allowed to modify the document, but would have to indicate clearly how they changed it and why.”
If Florida adopts the standard contract, it would go into effect in November 2014.

On Friday, California Governor Brown began taking action on education related bills that were on his desk and he vetoed SB 1263, a bill that would have impacted charter school facility options.
SB 1263 started out as a local dispute between several school districts in the Santa Clarita Valley, the Acton-Aqua Dulce School District and the charter schools that they have authorized.
It ended up being a bill that restricted charter school facility options state-wide and threatened to shut down the Albert Einstein Academy in the Santa Clarita Valley.
As Governor Brown explains, “this bill seeks to reverse the application of a limited exemption in law that allows a charter school petitioner to locate a single school site outside of its authorizing school district, under specific circumstances. This bill would instead require the charter school to first get permission for the host district where it intents to locate.”
The retroactive nature of the legislation would have punished Albert Einstein even though it is the highest performing school in the area.
As he has shown in the past, the Governor continued to be a strong advocate for charter schools and charter school facility options by vetoing the measure.
Additionally, the advocacy efforts of Albert Einstein and their authorizer, the Acton-Aqua Dulce School District, have to be noted. Together they were able to get thousands of letters and phone calls in to the Governor’s staff opposing SB 1263. They also had several Democratic members of Congress weigh in opposing the measure while it was on the Senate Floor and on the Governor’s desk. For that they must truly be commended.
In his veto message below, Governor Brown says,”while this bill attempts to solve a real problem, I am not comfortable with the retroactive language that could force existing charter schools to change locations. I have assembled a team to examine this situation and come back with solutions that minimize disruption to students and parents.”

To successfully serve students and provide an excellent education for all, every charter school needs funding. In Minnesota, charter school finance can come from many different sources. Follow these steps to make sure you’re tapping each source of funds for all they’re worth.

Apply for grants. There are many grants available for new charter schools within the first 36 months of their operation, but other grants are available later on as well. The Minnesota Association of Charter Schools maintains a list of grants that offer Minnesota charter school finance. Additionally, the Minnesota Department of Education regularly grants money to top performing charter schools.

General education revenue and transportation revenue are available from the Minnesota state government, per this set of laws.

Charter school capital services are third-party businesses that specialize in raising money for charter schools. To find these services in your area, try searching for them online or in the phone book.

Reach out to the local community. Organize bake sales, car washes, and other creative fundraisers with students’ help. Seek out local businesses willing to donate money to foster effective schooling for children in the area.

Reach out nationally. Sometimes large, nationwide businesses sponsor innovative educational ideas; look for corporate initiatives that offer free computers or supplies to winning schools.

For more information about Minnesota charter school finance options, as well as charter funding in other states, follow our blog.

In June of this year, we announced a $500 million facilities fund, and the formation of American Education Properties (AEP), a collaboration between Charter School Capital, the nation’s leading provider of working and growth capital to charter schools, and American Infrastructure MLP Funds (AIM), a leading private investment firm specializing in real property, infrastructure and natural resources businesses.
We’re excited to announce that just months later, the first $75 million in charter school facilities funding has been distributed to 11 schools across six states as part of the $500 million in innovative charter school financing to meet schools’ demand for facilities.
The distribution of the first $75 million marks one of the largest charter school facilities financing deals to date. This investment supports facilities at nine schools in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, and Washington, D.C., which educate roughly 4,550 Imagine Schools students, as well as students at two charter schools run by independent operators in Arizona and California.
With growing enrollment and nearly one million students on charter school waiting lists nationwide, charter school leaders need to find facilities that meet their needs, both now and in the future. AEP launched in June of this year, addresses this increasing challenge.
AEP enables school leaders to determine their long-term facility needs and retain control of their buildings, so they can focus on their mission of educating our children. With facilities financing in place, charter schools can expand their enrollment and academic offerings with confidence, knowing they can access and maintain the facilities to sustain their ongoing programs and growth.
“We are supporting one of the top needs charter schools face – facilities,” explained Stuart Ellis, President & CEO of Charter School Capital. “Charter School Capital has committed more growth capital to support the movement and now we are able to ensure that charters have the best facilities to meet their educational goals. With $500 million to invest over three years, we are dedicated to providing charter schools access to the capital they need to thrive.”
“We are pleased to have an organization that focuses on charter schools supporting our efforts and mission,” said James McFadden, Vice President and Treasurer of Imagine Schools. “Having a landlord who partners with us and others in the charter school movement to support the growth of schools makes our collaboration more meaningful.”
Imagine Schools is one of the nation’s largest and most highly regarded charter school networks. Their unique, full-service model currently administers a single, multi-state “school district” with 67 schools across 11 states and the District of Columbia. With total enrollment at approximately 36,000 students, the network is larger than each public school district in Tacoma, Boise and Cincinnati. The model has been successful. Imagine was one of only three school districts in the nation to be named a “2013 National District of Character” by the Character Education Partnership for promoting positive character development in a school environment.
Charter schools often have difficulty accessing funding and affordable credit. Recently, Standard & Poor’s (S&P) downgraded the value of charter school transactions, and Fitch Ratings downgraded the value of charter bonds. With its committed pool of capital, AEP enables schools to get the funding they need when they need it, without strings or fluctuating interest rates. Charter School Capital facilitates all origination and sourcing, underwriting, asset administration and property management for the fund.
“At a time when many are turning away from the needs of charter schools, we look forward to putting more dollars to work for charters of all sizes that will enable school leaders to focus on what they do best – educating students – while alleviating concerns about their schools’ facilities,” said Ellis.
To find out how we can help you with your charter school’s facility needs, give us a call at 877-272-1001 or email us at GrowCharters@charterschoolcapital.com.

Albert Einstein Academy for Letters, Arts and Science, a California charter school, has been ranked one of the Top 10 High Schools in America, according to Newsweek. The Santa Clarita charter school is listed #2 out of the top high schools in the country.
This year, Newsweek took an innovative approach to ranking high schools, taking students’ poverty levels into account in their scoring.
“The question, What Are America’s Top Schools? has different answers depending on whether or not student poverty is taken into account. We realized that rather than trying to make an all-encompassing list, we could reward more great schools by examining performance from more than one vantage point. For this reason, Newsweek has published “America’s Top High Schools,” a ranking of schools based solely on achievement, and “Beating the Odds,” a ranking of schools that factors in student poverty. To measure student poverty levels, we used the percentage of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch at each school.”
Congratulations to Albert Einstein Academy for Newsweek’s recognition of the school’s great program. Charter School Capital is proud to support the school’s efforts.

Welcome to Charter School Capital’s weekly round-up where we feature news about charter school funding, operations, policy, charter school facilities financing, and other trends.

Thinking of Starting a Charter School?

PBS NewsHour featured a piece, “How to Start a Charter School” that details the key steps to the charter school start-up stage. Wynee Sade, the founder of Yu Ming Charter School in Oakland, California, talks about her experience opening a charter school, from conceiving the idea, writing a charter petition, seeking approval from the charter board, finding charter school funding and growth capital, and securing a permanent facility.
Yu Ming Charter School is a dual-language Mandarin immersion school. The charter school opened it’s doors in 2011 with 100 students and has grown, currently serving 220 students kindergarten through third grade.
Sade offers sage advice for those starting a charter school. “I think that the biggest piece for me is really surrounding yourself with a passionate team of folks who are committed and want to be supportive and helpful. That just goes a long way because then they reach out to their group of supporters. And where you don’t have expertise, know where you have your limitations, go seek out help to compliment your strengths because if we didn’t do that or weren’t open to different ideas, we would never be here.”

NC Education Panel Considers Fast-Track Application Process for Charter Schools

The North Carolina Board of Education is considering a fast-track option for charter applicants that have previous experience operating successful charter schools.
According to an article in the News Observer, “Charters on the fast track would not have to go through the typical planning year, and could open months after their approval at the start of an academic year…The first fast-track applications would be submitted in July and if approved, could open in 2016 rather than 2017.”
“The fast-track option recognizes that the state has experienced charter operators who know how to get a successful school started. This just minimizes the time needed to get a school up”, said Eddie Goodall, executive director of the N.C. Public Charter Schools Association.

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/09/03/4119740_state-board-set-to-approve-fast.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy

Are Charter Schools Working? New Report from Center for Reinventing Public Education

A new report released by the Center for Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) takes a close look at if charter schools are actually more successful than their district-run counterparts, and why.
Here’s some key facts that the report highlights:

Charter schools on average produce results that are on par with and, in many cases, better than district-run public schools
Charter schools are producing higher achievement gains in math relative to their district-run counterparts in most grade levels, particularly in middle school, and gains in reading that are similar to district-run schools in reading
A growing body of literature on the relationship between charter school attendance and outcomes apart from achievement finds further evidence of large positive impacts of charter schools on high school graduation, college enrollment and behavioral issues

Download the full report.

Welcome to Charter School Capital’s weekly round-up where we feature charter school news about operations, policy, funding for charter schools, charter school facilities financing, and other trends.
This week marks the end of summer and the beginning of another school year. If recent news is any indicator, it’s going to be a year of exciting success and incredible growth for charter schools.

Charter Schools Top Rankings

Conor Williams, a senior researcher in the Education Policy Program at New America writes on The Daily Beast that “charter schools are some of the biggest winners in this year’s high school rankings list.”
As a former teacher in a Brooklyn charter school, Williams argues charter schools don’t automatically equal success. Instead, it’s the flexibility that charter schools embody that so often creates positive learning environments.
“In other words, charters aren’t uniquely effective just because they’re charters. The structures surrounding them are important. So are each charter’s teachers and administrators. But there’s growing evidence—shown in this year’s rankings—that the charter approach can make an extraordinary difference for students.”

CCSA Releases Fourth Annual Report on California Charter Schools

On the EducationNext blog, California Charter School Association (CCSA) president Jed Wallace highlights some of the most important facts gleaned from the CCSA’s yearly report on charter schools in California.
“Students at charter schools serving low-income populations are far more likely than their traditional public school counterparts to be educated in a school that is among the top five or ten percent of all public schools statewide.

More than half of the students (52 percent) attending charters serving a majority high poverty population attend charter schools that are in the top quartile of all public schools statewide, compared to only 26 percent of similar students attending traditional public schools. To put this into perspective, these 78,000 charter students – enrolled in top quartile charters – would make up the fourth largest school district in California and the 42nd largest district in the nation. And more than a quarter of all English learners, African American, and Latino charter students attend charter schools that are among the most outperforming schools in California. Students at charters serving a majority of historically disadvantaged students are likely to be among the most outperforming schools in the state – three times more likely to be in the top tenth percentile and 5-6 times more likely to be in the 5th percentile.”

The Beginning of Charter Schools

A fascinating op-ed in the New York Times this weekend tells the story of one man who first conceived of the charter school concept and pitched the idea to American legislators.

“…the original vision for charter schools came from Albert Shanker, the president of the American Federation of Teachers. In a 1988 address, Mr. Shanker outlined an idea for a new kind of public school where teachers could experiment with fresh and innovative ways of reaching students. Mr. Shanker estimated that only one-fifth of American students were well served by traditional classrooms. In charter schools, teachers would be given the opportunity to draw upon their expertise to create high-performing educational laboratories from which the traditional public schools could learn.”

Richard D. Kahlenberg and Halley Potter, who authored the editorial, are fellows at the Century Foundation and co-authors of “A Smarter Charter: Finding What Works for Charter Schools and Public Education”.

At the start of 2014 the California Teacher’s Association, the state’s largest teachers union, made a decision to focus on organizing the state’s charter schools.
They see the more than 1,100 charter schools as a good opportunity to secure new dues-paying members that can grow their union. They are making this a focus even though the California charter school law allows charter schools to unionize if they want to do so and over 30% of current charter schools have collective bargaining agreements in place.
The union has really focused their efforts into organizing the 11 schools that the California Virtual Academies have in the state and in Alameda County. Although, the union has stumbled with their initial efforts they have doubled their efforts and hope to be successful by the end of this year.
We will need to keep our eyes on their efforts to see if this venture will begin to pick up speed.
Note: Edweek blog recently did a piece on CTA’s efforts.