Charter school News and Trends Archives

Join us for our upcoming webinar – Building a Growth Strategy for Your Charter School on Tuesday, September 22 starting at 9:00 a.m. PST / 12:00 p.m. EST. This one hour webinar session will feature challenges schools face during various phases of growth from start-up, expansion through to a mature school as well as highlight best practices schools use to achieve success.

Register today!

Speaker: Stuart Ellis, President & CEO at Charter School Capital. Stuart is one of the founders of Charter School Capital, the nation’s leading provider of growth capital and facilities financing to charter schools nationwide. The organization has provided in excess of $850 million in support of more than 500 charter schools educating 500,000 students across the country.

What you’ll learn:

Best practices related to growth strategies for charter schools and charter school replication
Charter school funding options specific to your growth stage
Lessons learned from charter school leaders

Register now.

Today the Seattle Times Editorial Board said, “The Washington Supreme Court should reconsider its ruling that the state’s charter school law is unconstitutional.”
It’s unfortunate that the state court’s ruling came days prior to the 2015-16 school year after 11 months with the court, impacting more than 1,200 students and their families. The growth of charter schools comes out of choice families are seeking for new and different ways of education for their children.
Below is the Seattle Times piece.

By Seattle Times editorial board, The Seattle Times

The state Supreme Court should heed requests to reconsider its ruling that Washington’s fledgling charter schools violate the state constitution.

The timing of the ruling – about 11 months after hearing arguments and after charter school classes commenced – was perplexing, but its repercussions are serious. More than 1,200 students are enrolled in the state’s nine charter schools, eight of which are starting their first year. In 2012, voters approved Initiative 1240 to authorize publicly funded charter schools that give higher priority to serving at-risk kids. Charters have greater flexibility to respond to students’ needs, something the traditional system does not provide or encourage enough of.

Read the full article.
Do you agree with the Seattle Times Editorial Board? What are your thoughts? Share your comments below.

On April 8th the Assembly Education Committee voted to pass AB 787 on a party line vote.
Assemblywoman Shirley Weber was the only Democrat to vote against the bill.
The anti-charter bill requires the charter school authorizer to appoint a majority of the charter school’s board members. AB 787 would effectively gut the entire charter school law by removing any autonomy that the charter school has. Charter schools would all become dependent of their authorizer and would no longer be schools of choice.
A host of groups and individuals lined up to oppose the bill while the entire labor community supported it. Assemblywoman Weber made an impassioned speech against the bill and brought up several good points while describing her opposition to it.
The measure now moves forward to the Assembly Appropriations Committee where it faces an uncertain fate because of the costs to have authorizers implement the policy.
Last year AB 1531, a similar bill, was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee because of its costs.

In a big victory for California charter schools, the California Supreme Court ruled that the Los Angeles Unified School District was required to reevaluate the method with which they’re assigning facility space to charter schools.
According to the California Charter School Association (CCSA), who filed the initial lawsuit, “The Court’s decision affirms CCSA’s position that the district’s methodology was not legal or fair, and potentially denied classrooms to charter public school students. This ruling requires L.A. Unified to make changes to its Prop 39 process in order to ensure that its method of allocating classrooms to charter public schools is lawful.”
Legislative consultant Branche Jones said, “It’s great to see the court confirm that LAUSD has been out of compliance by not meeting its Prop 39 obligation and providing facilities for charter schools. Hopefully the district will now revise their policies.”
Read more about the ruling on the CCSA website or in this LA Times article.

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.

As the dust settles on the California general election we can begin to see what it means for education reform advocates in the near future.
The majority of the reformers put their financing and influence behind Marshall Tuck’s failed run for Superintendent of Public Instruction.
This was the second time that reformers challenged the current Superintendent as they spent heavily to back former Senator Gloria Romero when she ran against Tom Torlakson four years ago.
Torlakson, then a State Senator, easily defeated Romero and Larry Aceves who was supported by the state’s Administrators Union.
As a result Torlakson’s first term as Superintendent of Public Instruction was rocky at best for education reform advocates so you can imagine what it will be like now that they are 0-2 against him.
It remains to be seen how reformers will go about mending fences with Torlakson but they have to come up with something now that he will control the Department of Education for another for years. If they do not then they will not be able to proceed with any reforms or initiatives that involve the Department.
From a legislative perspective things will not change much for supporters of education reform.
The Democrats are still firmly in control of both houses of the legislature but they failed to attain a 2/3 majority in either house. This means that they will have the final say in all legislation and budgetary matters in the state legislature and that the Republican party will be witnesses and not participants in the process.
However, it also means that they cannot override a veto by the Governor. So if like in past years the legislature passes anti-charter school legislation the Governor will still serve as the ultimate back stop because he has vetoed those bills in the past.
Where reformers will be stymied is in their attempts to pass any legislation giving parents and students more school choice options. These measures will most assuredly be dead on arrival.

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.

After the polls closed in California and a long night of counting ended most of the state’s legislative and state-wide contests are complete. Overall the Democratic Party was victorious in every state-wide contest. Though several races were very close, Democrats swept each race.
The toughest, most expensive race was for the Superintendent of Public Instruction where the current Superintendent, Tom Torlakson, was seeking a second term in office. He was opposed by Marshall Tuck, a former charter school operator and education reform supporter back by numerous individuals who play heavily in education reform. Torlakson was supported by the California Teachers Association and some of the state’s other unions.
The race became the most expensive race in the state as total spending exceeded $30 million; this was more than triple the total amount spent on the race for Governor where Governor Brown cruised to an unprecedented fourth term. Both sides were well funded and were able to present their case to the voters; in the end the Superintendent will serve four more years.
In the State Senate the Democrats lost a race in Orange County where moderate Democrat Lou Correa was termed out of office. He will be replaced by Republican Janet Nguyen who defeated former Assemblyman Jose Solorio by 20 percentage points. The Republicans were able to hang on to their only ‘targeted’ seat as Senator Andy Vidak beat back his Democratic opponent Luis Chavez.
In a move of musical chairs three State Senators were elected to Congressional seats which will create three vacancies and require three special elections set by the Governor. This will be added to the current vacancy that exists in the 35th Senate district where an election has been scheduled for December 8th.
The 35th will elect a Democratic State Senator, one of the other vacancies will also add to the Democratic side of the aisle and the other two will go Republican. This leaves the State Senate breakdown as 25 Democrats and 11 Republicans; the Democrats currently sit two votes short of a 2/3 majority.
In the State Assembly the Democrats lost four seats but did pick up one vacancy. The Republicans picked up more seats in one election cycle than they have in the last few cycles combined.
The Democrats lost the 16th district where the California Teachers Association fielded one of their former employees Tim Sbranti. After defeating a moderate Democratic candidate in the June primary he lost to Republican Catharine Baker who ran a tremendous race.
In the 36th Assembly district Republican Tom Lackey defeated Assemblyman Steve Fox. Fox’s earlier election had been a surprise to legislative Democratic leaders and he was always considered a ‘target.’
In the 65th Assembly district Republican Young Kim defeated Democratic Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk-Silva and in the 66th Republican David Hadley defeated Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi for the Republicans fourth pick up of the night.
The Democrats did pick up Republican Assemblyman Jeff Gorrell’s seat as he vacated it to run for Congress. That leaves the Assembly breakdown 52-28 in favor of the Democrats again leaving them two votes short of a 2/3 majority.
To view complete election results go to www.sos.ca.gov and hit the election results tab.

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.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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!