January 2015 - Grow Schools

We’re excited to announce that American Education Properties (AEP) has acquired Cleveland Arts and Social Sciences Academy’s (CASSA) building in a transaction worth approximately $4 million. This investment ensures that CASSA will continue to provide quality education to its 330 K-8 students, today and into the future.

CASSA opened its doors in 2005 and is supported by Mosaica Education and the school’s authorizer, Ohio Council of Community Schools (OCCS). CASSA recently earned an “A” rating and the designation of Ohio’s highest-ranked community school for value-added by Battelle for Kids.
“We are pleased to have an organization that focuses exclusively on charter schools supporting our mission,” said Debroah Mays, CASSA’s Regional Vice President. “Charter School Capital’s expertise in charter school facilities financing and the support they provide to charters across the country is invaluable and makes the collaboration even more meaningful and productive for our school and the students and families we serve.”
With the demand for charter school enrollment increasing and one million students on waiting lists nationwide, charter leaders require facilities financing options that meet their needs. Charter School Capital and AEP address the increased charter school demand for facilities and the lack of adequate facilities financing options. School leaders are able to retain control of their buildings and make modifications needed in order to expand their enrollment and academic programs. Charter School Capital facilitates all origination and sourcing, underwriting, asset administration, and property management for AEP.
“We are providing a solution to one of the pressing challenges charter schools face – access to facilities and the funds needed for them,” explained Stuart Ellis, CEO of Charter School Capital and AEP. “Charter School Capital has committed more growth capital than any other organization to support the movement and now we are able to ensure that charters have the best facilities to meet their educational goals. With an initial $500 million to invest in charter school facilities combined with our continuing growth capital programs, we are dedicated to providing charter schools access to the funding they need to thrive.”
For more information on how we can help your charter school with facilities expansion and growth capital, contact us at GrowCharters@charterschoolcapital.com.

On January 9th Governor Jerry Brown unveiled his new budget proposal for the year.
The legislature will begin hearing the Governor’s budget in the Budget Subcommittees in the coming weeks. They will hear all of his proposed policies in advance of him releasing a May Revision to his budget once the state’s tax receipts begin to come in. The May Revision will reflect the Governor’s final changes to his January budget proposal and the Legislature’s budget committees will take action on it. Anything that both houses of the legislature do not agree on will then head to the Joint Budget Conference Committee which will take final action before voting a final product to be acted on by both houses. The legislature will then have to pass a budget by June 15th if they want to continue reciting pay checks.
In his Budget proposal the Governor did not create many new plans and only increased funding for education and some ‘safety net’ programs. He also ensured that the state’s rainy day fund has a healthy reserve; at the end of the year the fund should have $2.8 billion in it. The document he released really is a status quo budget except for the new education dollars.
For education specifically, the Governor proposes to spend $65.7 billion on Proposition 98. Total per-pupil expenditures from all sources are projected to be $13,223 in 2014-15 and $13,462 in 2015-16. Ongoing K-12 Proposition 98 per-pupil expenditures are $9,667 in 2015-16. Specific funding adjustments include:

Over $900 million to eliminate remaining deferrals
$4 billion in one time funds for further implementation of the LCFF
$1.1 billion in one time funds to further implement the Common Core
- Of this amount $20 million will go to County Offices of Education
- The balance will go to Districts and Charter Schools
- All of the funds will be distributed on an ADA basis
$100 million in one time technology funds to help schools with internet infrastructure and connectivity
A proposal to change the threshold to be funded by the Charter School Facility Grant Program from 70% free and reduced lunch to 55%
$10 million for teacher preparation, teacher and administrator performance assessments
$500 million for an Adult Education Block Grant
$250 million in one time funds (for three years) for a transitional CTE Incentive Grant Program
Allocates $368 million of energy efficiency programs to:
- $320.1 million and $39.6 million to K-12 schools and community colleges for energy efficiency project grants
- $5.3 million to the California Conservation Corps for continued technical assistance to K-12 school districts
- $3 million to the Workforce Investment Board for continued implementation of the job-training program

More details can be found in the Governor’s entire budget summary.

This week the legislature reconvenes for the 2015-16 legislative session and below we have outlined how committee changes may impact California charter schools.
The first day of session was actually the first Monday in December when both houses of the legislature met for an organizational session, electing their leadership and swearing in new members.
In addition, on Monday Governor Jerry Brown was sworn in to office for an unprecedented fourth term. If he finishes out his final term in office he will be the longest serving Governor in California’s history. In his inaugural address the Governor did not lay out many specifics for the state but did discuss the state’s overall fiscal situation and some of his long term objectives which include continuing to build the state’s high speed rail line. The Governor also made it clear that he was proud of the work that the state had accomplished with the Local Control Funding Formula and looked forward to continuing to provide more resources for education.
Additionally legislative committee assignments have been made in both houses of the legislature.
For education interests and advocates the chairmanship of education policy and budget subcommittees are very important. The Assembly Education Committee will be chaired by Patrick O’Donnell, a freshman Democratic member and former teacher from Long Beach. Rounding out this committee will be Democrats: McCarty, Santiago, Thurmond and Weber. The Republican Vice-Chair of this committee is Rocky Chavez from San Diego and Young Kim is the other Republican on the committee.
The Assembly Budget Subcommittee with jurisdiction over education issues will be chaired by freshman Kevin McCarty of Sacramento who previously worked for Early Edge California. In the Senate, Carol Liu of Los Angeles County will continue her chairmanship of the Senate Education Committee and Marty Block from San Diego will continue to chair Budget Subcommittee with jurisdiction over education issues. Additional members of the Senate Education Committee include Democrats Block, Hancock, Leyva, Mendoza and Pan with Republican leader Bob Huff serving as the committee’s Vice Chair and Senator Vidak being the other Republican on the committee. This means continuity in the Senate on education and early learning issues while there will be a learning curve for the new chairs in the Assembly.
Also, in the Assembly Shirley Weber will assume the chair of the powerful Budget Committee which could be an excellent sign for educational advocates. Ms. Weber is one of the most knowledgeable and capable members of the Assembly and was formerly a San Diego School Board and charter school board member.
The Governor’s budget is due to come out later this week and you can expect a detailed analysis next week. Once the Governor’s budget is produced legislative budget subcommittees will begin hearing on its policy and fiscal provisions until the beginning of May. After that the Governor will propose a May revision of his January Budget proposal and the full Budget Committees will begin hearing those changes and forwarding items of disagreement to the Joint Budget Conference Committee.
Check back in the coming weeks for more in-depth legislative information focused on California.