In an op-ed published recently in the Wall Street Journal about school choice, charter leader Eva Moskowitz says when it comes to test scores and charter school attendance, the numbers don’t lie.
Responding to charter school critics who say that cherry-picking by charters means that academic gains by charter schools are offset by losses in district schools, Moskowitz, the founder and CEO of Success Academy Charter Schools, uses statewide exam scores to refute this claim.
Moskowitz claims that the unique environment in New York City’s 32 school districts make for an ideal real-world experiment:
“New York City has 32 community school districts. The availability of free facilities in some of them has spurred rapid charter-school growth, while in others, the absence of such facilities has thwarted it. As a result, charter enrollment varies widely, from nearly half of students in the Central Harlem district to none at all in other districts.
We can examine the 16 districts where charter school enrollment is highest (charter-rich districts) and the 16 districts where it is lowest (charter-light districts) and see how their relative rankings, based on their results on statewide English and math proficiency exams, changed between 2006 and 2014.”
The full article with the results of Moskowitz’s analysis is available on the Wall Street Journal’s online edition.
Author: Grow Schools, formerly Charter School Capital
The National Alliance of Public Charter Schools (NAPCS) recently announced their newest campaign, “The Truth about Charter Schools,” where they clear-up common misunderstandings about charter schools.
All of us in the charter industry understand that even though support for charter schools is widespread, there are still myths and misconceptions that create confusion and resistance.
That’s why we’re so excited about the NAPCS’ campaign, and why we’ve decided to support their efforts by tackling some charter school financing myths and facts of our own.
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MYTH: Charter schools should use their reserves to finance growth instead of looking for outside financing options.
FACT: Using outside financing to facilitate growth can make a charter more financially secure in the long run, and pay for continued growth without depleting cash reserves.
MYTH: Working capital should only be used in the case of state funding delays or deferrals or as a last resort.
FACT: Working capital is incredibly flexible and can be used for operational growth, program enhancements, technology upgrades, school expansion, etc.
MYTH: Running a charter school is not like running a business.
FACT: A charter school is a business and making smart, informed business decisions will benefit your school’s viability, financial health, and overall growth.
MYTH: Bonds are the best way to fund a facility.
FACT: Less than 10% of charter schools can actually obtain bond financing. The process of getting a bond is often time-consuming, arduous and incurs hidden fees from audits, trustees and rating agencies.
MYTH: Charter schools should own their own facility.
FACT: You’re in the business of educating students, not owning and managing real estate. There are many other financing options that will give you control and security over your facility.
MYTH: The cost of getting financing is too high.
FACT: There is a significant opportunity cost to being inadequately funded and being unable to pay your staff, enhance your programs and enroll more students.
MYTH: The most important factor of getting financing is the interest rate.
FACT: Just like getting a car loan or a mortgage, there are fees and transaction costs hidden in many financing deals. Make sure you’re comparing your total end-cost when evaluating different charter school financing options as well as making an apples-to-apples comparison.
Are there other myths you have to add? Let us know in the comments below!
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.
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.
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”.
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 we have two fascinating reports released by experts at the forefront of the school choice movement. Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!
Fact or Fiction? New Report from National Alliance of Public Charter Schools (NAPCS)
The National Alliance recently released a report that examines some myths and inaccuracies about public charter schools.
Here’s a summary of the topic found on the first page of the report:
“Between the 2008–09 and 2013–14 school years, the public charter school movement experienced a dramatic 80 percent increase in the number of students and an astounding 40 percent increase in the number of schools.
Despite this growth, there is still an overwhelming unmet parental demand for quality school options, with more than 1 million student names on charter school waiting lists. While charter schools enjoy tremendous bipartisan support among policymakers and the general public, they also have some vocal critics who perpetuate a number of myths about charters. This paper lays out some of these myths and provides responses based on facts and independent research findings.”
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2014 Education Next Survey Report Released
Education Next’s yearly survey on education policy was released this week. There are over 50 questions in total. They cover a wide range of topics such as American school performance compared to other countries, school spending, school choice and college readiness.
The survey, in it’s eighth year, is administered to a representative sample of American adults and public school teachers.
The report points out that the public is gaining awareness of school choice, and continuing to support it. “The practice of school choice has now spread to such an extent that more than one-fourth of all American families have a school-age child who has been educated elsewhere than in a traditional public school. Many American families are ignoring the bright lines routinely drawn between traditional public schools on the one hand and charter schools, private schools, and home schooling on the other. ”
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Independent Charter-Approval Boards Being Opened in More States
An article in Education Week examines the growing number of states that are creating independent charter school authorization boards.
“Such boards go by different names but are generally authorizing bodies separate from other state and local agencies whose sole purpose is to authorize charter schools statewide. The press for quality—a recurring theme in the charter school debate—has pushed authorizing to the center of the discussion because, many argue, charter schools ultimately reflect the caliber of their authorizer.”
Desert Star Academy, a college preparatory charter school in Arizona, opened its doors this past Monday. The Arizona State Board for Charter Schools approved the academy’s charter school application for the 2014-2015 school year in February.
“It has been a day two years in the making,” said School Director and Principal Margie Montgomery. “We’re so excited to provide the community with a quality school incorporating a college preparatory curriculum.”
After working with the Charter School Capital team to receive vital start-up charter school funding, Desert Star Academy welcomed 82 student scholars on its first day. The charter school, geared towards kindergarten through sixth-grade students, recites their school’s Scholar’s Pledge each morning and has a combination of computers and tablets in every classroom.
“We’re thrilled to provide charter school funding to help Desert Star Academy finally open its doors to students,” said Frank Yanez, the Arizona Client Services Representative for Charter School Capital. “Not only is the Desert Star Academy staff an exceptional group of educators, but they’re very motivated to get every one of their students into college. Fort Mohave is lucky to have this resource for their kids.”
