Atlantic Montessori Charter School Partners with Charter School Capital to Add a Campus and Pay Off Debt

Atlantic Montessori Charter School (AMCS) was founded by their passionate and dedicated Executive Director, Juana Garcia, with the mission to provide quality instruction following the founding principles and philosophies of the Montessori Method. They strive to create a learning environment that respects children as unique individuals in an atmosphere of caring, creativity, kindness, firmness, dignity, and independence. Their first campus, Pines, is a K-3 school and they’ve since added an additional campus, West, a K-5 school.

Challenges

The struggle to find funding was frustrating as other lenders would not take the time to explain things clearly.
AMCS wanted to expand to a second campus but needed $80,000 for a deposit and the first month’s rent.
In order to expand to a second campus, a daunting fight with the city for approval led to over $100,000 in legal fees.
With 122 students, it was difficult to operate paycheck to paycheck with no leeway or the ability to pay back their substantial legal debt.

Solution

Charter School Capital helped AMCS access working capital to finance their new campus deposit (and first month’s rent) as well as pay off their legal bills.
Charter School Capital purchased state aid payments due to AMCS from the State of Florida; and, in exchange, provided funding to the school they needed, when they needed it.
Charter School Capital also worked with AMCS to devise a plan to stop using receivables payments after a certain period of time.

Charter School Capital’s approach, they way they explained everything to us in detail—how everything worked—made us feel like we weren’t stupid for asking the questions we had. We felt like we could trust them. It all comes down to their exceptional customer service. — Juana Garcia, Executive Director, Atlantic Montessori

The Result

The funding provided by Charter School Capital helped springboard AMCS’s success. It enabled their expansion; helped them pay off legal fees; increase enrollment; purchase needed Montessori materials; provide training for their teachers; acquire new computers and furniture; and covered basic operational costs. Executive Director, Juana Garcia, the life force behind Atlantic Montessori Charter School, is now looking toward their future. In addition to some facility renovations and upgrades, her dream of opening a middle school may be on the horizon now for this now growing, thriving school.

Since the company’s inception in 2007, Charter School Capital has been committed to the success of charter schools. We help schools access, leverage, and sustain the resources charter schools need to thrive, allowing them to focus on what matters most – educating students. Our depth of experience working with charter school leaders and our knowledge of how to address charter school financial and operational needs have allowed us to provide over $1.8 billion in support of 600 charter schools that have educated over 1,027,000 students across the country. For more information on how we can support your charter school, contact us. We’d love to work with you!

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Announcing the 2019 Charter School Honor Roll Winners!

Charter schools help create educational choice. That’s why Charter School Capital only works with charter schools – we believe in the power of charter schools and their leaders to deliver quality education. We created the Charter School Honor Roll in 2018 to celebrate the achievements of exceptional charter schools across the country.
We were humbled and inspired by the hundreds of worthy submissions we received for this, our second annual, Charter School Honor Roll. Our team was so moved by the passion and pride that ALL of our submissions shared about the hard work their students and school leaders have been doing. And, because the caliber of schools who shared their stories with us was so exceptional, selecting the winners was no easy task for our panel of judges.
The stories charter parents shared about their children blossoming; feeling included; feeling at home; being supported; being recognized for their achievements; being part of a larger family, were all so deeply moving.
School leaders shared their immense pride in student accomplishments; state and local recognition; the dramatic academic improvement due to the hard work and dedication of students and teachers; supporting the professional development of their staff; school service and outreach and how it has impacted their communities; beating the odds … just to name a few.
We carefully read each submission and selected schools that we felt best exemplified exceptional accomplishments in any of the following categories:

School growth
Student achievement
Community service
School leadership
Positive school climate

Thank you to everyone who sent in amazing stories and photos for consideration. Your hard work and dedication are truly awe-inspiring. Reading each and every one of these stories has reinvigorated our belief in what we do here at Charter School Capital—helping charter schools access, leverage, and sustain the resources they need to thrive, allowing them to focus on what matters most—educating students.
To see the list of 30 outstanding schools (from 17 different states) that made the grade for this year’s honor roll, click here!

Since the company’s inception in 2007, Charter School Capital has been committed to the success of charter schools. We provide growth capital and facilities financing to charter schools nationwide. Our depth of experience working with charter school leaders and our knowledge of how to address charter school financial and operational needs have allowed us to provide over $1.8 billion in support of 600 charter schools that have educated over 1,027,000 students across the country. For more information on how we can support your charter school, contact us. We’d love to work with you!

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Learn4Life Served 2,000 More Students by Partnering with Charter School Capital

This video was originally published Jul 17, 2014. We are honored to continue to partner with Learn4Life and are very proud of the way our support has helped them continue to serve their students and grow their enrollment. To learn how other school’s have achieved success by partnering with us, check out our other success stories here and filter by the content type, “School Spotlights”.

Watch the short video to hear Skip’s story and find the transcript below. You can learn more about Charter School Capital here.

At Learn4Life, we work with at-risk youth. Our schools typically go after students who are sitting at home on the couch, have no direction, looking for a job, but can’t get one because they don’t have a high school diploma.

Our charter schools in the state of California have been faced with a number of problems. The first and foremost is a reduction in ADA (average daily attendance) funding. And then, problem number two, to balance the budget, the state of California was basically delaying the payments to charter schools and not allowing us to cash flow our business properly.

Charter School Capital came to us as a gift, for the most part, in a time when it looked like there was not a lot of hope for charter schools (in terms of cash flow financing) with the delays in payments that the government had placed on us. If we had not had the type of resources that Charter School Capital has, it certainly would’ve hampered our growth over the last three years.

Without that kind of opportunity, we would’ve really been limited to our cash on hand. And it would’ve really put a stunt on our growth. It would have affected a lot of kids. I think we’ve served another 2000 students, in the last two years because of the availability of cash flow financing. Those are 2000 kids that could go on to cure cancer or do something really great in our society.

For the first time in a long time, cash is really not our biggest issue, thanks to Charter School Capital.

Our relationship with charter school capital is a very positive one. They really helped us in terms of helping better understand how the state makes its payments to our school. If I had to use one word to describe our relationship with charter school capital, it’s been “partnership”. For the first time in a long time, cash is really not our biggest issue, thanks to Charter School Capital.

Our team works with you to determine funding and facilities options based on your school’s needs. If you are trying to meet operational expenses, expand, acquire or renovate your school building, add an athletic department, enhance school safety/security, or buy new technology, complete the online application below and we’ll contact you to set up a meeting.

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Charter School Capital Helps The Academy for Sciences & Agriculture High School Survive and Thrive

Listen as Becky Meyer, the Executive Director of the Academy for Sciences & Agriculture High School (AFSA) shares how Charter School Capital helped AFSA overcome some critical financial challenges when the state of Minnesota was holding back funding for charter schools and bank financing was hard to come by.

Video Transcript:
AFSA is an agriculture and science-focused charter school, located in Vadnais Heights, Minnesota. In 2001, the school opened its doors as a charter school, serving the seven-county metro area to help students understand that there are good careers in agriculture and science waiting for them.
Most urban students aren’t aware of those careers. And so, part of our mission is to create a literacy around agriculture and agriculture business.
I think funding for education, in general, is difficult, but in charter schools, we have some additional problems. There are a number of charter schools who do have some good relationships with the local banks. But when the holdbacks went from 15% to 30%, to 40% a lot of local banks got out of the business of loaning money to charter schools also. My school’s budget is somewhere in the range on about three and a half million dollars per school year, and if we’re having to fund nearly a third or more of that money, we have a lot of expenses. We have a lot of time consumed doing that.
And it’s different from a regular district because we do not have access to the low-interest rate pool funding that traditional districts have. We also, technically, don’t have any collateral other than the tables and chairs, perhaps, in our schools, so banks don’t like to look at us very much.
Charter School Capital understands Minnesota charter schools and understands the funding model that we have in place and I think that they’re in the business more than just for the purpose of lending money. I think they’re interested in making sure that charter schools are successful, and that’s an important piece to me.
If Charter School Capital wasn’t around at the time when the holdbacks increased, I’m sure that a number of charter schools would have had to close their doors. And, in fact, a few charter schools are continuing to close their doors because they don’t have the financial resources to make it through holdbacks, not necessarily at the fault of the charter school but, probably, because that state is not funding education appropriately. And Charter School Capital stepped in and filled a need that was there in the charter school world.

I think that one word I would use for Charter School Capital would be personal.
-Becky Meyer, Executive Director, AFSA

I think that one word I would use for Charter School Capital would be personal. It feels like when they came to Minnesota and funded AFSA High School that they were funding AFSA High School, not just any charter school. They spent a lot of time at our school. They got to know the staff members. They got to know students and they worked with us, and they seem to be proud of our accomplishments as any one of the members of our community would be.

We’re open right now because Charter School Capital came in and funded AFSA High School.
-Becky Meyer, Executive Director, AFSA

Our team of caring charter school financing professionals works with you to determine funding and facilities options based on your school’s needs. If you are trying to meet operational expenses, expand, acquire or renovate your school building, add an athletic department, enhance school safety/security, or buy new technology, complete the online application below and we’ll contact you to set up a meeting.

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Charter School Capital Funding Helps T-Squared Honors Academy Overcome Challenges

About T-Squared Honors Academy

Established in 2014, T-Squared Honors Academy is currently enrolling students in grades seven through twelve. The school focuses on four key pillars: intelligence; broad sympathy; knowledge of the world that was and is; and the relation of men to the world. Their mission is to utilize a rigorous, innovative academic curriculum to infuse a passion for people, intrinsic motivation, and self-discipline in their students. They aspire for each of their students to be challenged, develop strong character values, and to serve publicly and lead the world in social reforms.

The Challenges

In Ohio in 2014, there was a period where charter school fund distribution was being delayed, creating a challenging situation for charter
schools to operate effectively
As the state funding payments came through, both the timing and funding amounts were irregular and unpredictable
Without consistent and stable funding, T-Squared lacked the ability to provide job security for their staff, would have been forced to make operational reductions, and their future was uncertain

The Solution

Charter School Capital purchased Ohio state aid payments owed to T-Squared Honors Academy and then provided consistent funding to the school in advance of the state payment distribution dates
Charter School Capital supplied the working capital needed for T-Squared to be able to make payroll for their staff and purchase necessary academic materials like laptops and new books
Charter School Capital’s online Client Portal has made the documentation process much faster, easier, and more transparent for school leadershipWe’re so grateful to Charter School Capital.

Whenever we have questions or are confused about something, our account manager, Michelle, is very patient in explaining things to us. Anytime I need her, she is available or will call us right back. She’s made the process so easy and understandable.
Dr. India Ford, Superintendent,
T-Squared Honors Academy

The Result

The funding provided by Charter School Capital provided T-Squared Honors Academy the financial predictability they needed for operational stability. It is currently the top-performing charter school in the area and they’re setting their sites on becoming one of the best charter schools in Ohio—and then the nation. Since 2014, they’ve more than doubled their enrollment, exceeded academically, and are now nearing their goal of financial stability and independence. The next milestone for them will be to move into their very own high school building. With their leaders’ dedication and commitment, we know it will happen.

At Charter School Capital, our team works with you to determine working capital funding and facilities options based on your school’s needs. If you are trying to meet operational expenses, expand, acquire or renovate your school building, add an athletic department, enhance school safety/security, or buy new technology, complete the online application below and we’ll contact you to set up a meeting.

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How Charter School Capital Helped Minnesota School Thrive

With so many choices for where go to access financial resources for your school, it’s important to select the right one for you. At Charter School Capital, we believe in the power of charter schools and their leaders to deliver quality education to families across the country. And we’re proud to provide the reliability and stability charter leaders require as they walk their journey to better educate more students today—and in the future.
Please watch and listen as Eric Mahmoud Founder and former CEO of the Harvest Network and Best Academy in Minneapolis shares his experience working with Charter School Capital during some very difficult financial times for charter schools in Minnesota.
This video was originally published Jul 17, 2014. While we’re no longer funding Best Academy, we are proud of the way our support has helped them continue to serve their students. Because, when you no longer need Charter School Capital, that means we’ve done our job and your school has become financially stable, successful, and set up for future growth. To learn how other school’s have achieved success by partnering with us, check out our other success stories here and filter by the content type, “School Spotlights”.
Watch the short video to hear Eric’s story and find the transcript below. You can learn more about Charter School Capital here.

We started as a daycare in our home with about 10 children and then after seeing our children graduate from our preschool program and go into the public schools where they weren’t being challenged, we decided that we would expand our preschool program to elementary school, which we did in 1992.
We’ve taken a population that traditionally (both in Minneapolis and around the country) has not done well, and we’ve actually raised their achievement all the way up to the top. And, while at the same time we were growing our BEST academy program, the state was going through their own financial crisis.
And so we went from a 10 percent [state] hold back – maybe about five, six years ago – to subsequently 17 percent, 27 percent, then 30 percent. And last year, a 40 percent hold back. And for many schools it actually crippled them. And, actually, I thought it was very appalling.
The opportunity to talk with Charter School Capital came about and within a very short period of time, we were able to get the resources that we needed.
There was a whole lot of flexibility working with Charter School Capital in a number of situations when we thought that we were going to get a certain amount of revenue from the state and we didn’t.
Charter School Capital was very flexible and it’s been very easy working with Charter School Capital to fulfill the needs that we have as a school. Certainly, they helped us think about our overall financial picture. And so it was more than just writing us a check.
We had a very good relationship during the years that we’d been using charter school capital. I think it was a good business decision. And as a result of that business decision, we’ve been able to move our children where they need to be academically.

Are you looking into funding options for your charter school? Our team of dedicated professionals works with you to determine funding and facilities options based on your school’s needs. If you are trying to meet operational expenses, expand, acquire or renovate your school building, add an athletic department, enhance school safety/security, or buy new technology, complete the online application below and we’ll contact you to set up a meeting.

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Charter School Capital Funding Allows School Leaders to Stay Focused on Their Students

With so many choices for where go to access financial resources for your school, it’s important to select the right one for you. We believe in the power of charter schools and their leaders to deliver quality education to families across the country. And we’re proud to provide the reliability and stability charter leaders require as they walk their journey to better educate more students today—and in the future.

Please listen as Ricardo Mireles, Executive Director, Academia Avance shares his experience working with Charter School Capital.
This video was originally published Jul 17, 2014. We are proud of our continued partnership with Academia Avance. We are honored to support them in continuing their mission of setting a standard for public charter school excellence and inspiring a lifetime of learning and leading.

Charter School Capital Funding Helps Academia Avance Sustain Thier Growth

Academia Avance is a charter public school in the northeast community of Highland Park in Los Angeles. We serve grades six through 12. We are on track to having 500 students for this upcoming fall charter funding.

[The way that we can access] charter funding makes it very difficult for schools that increase their enrollment [because] you don’t see those funds until the spring. But the relationship that we had built with Charter School Capital allowed us to say, look, this month I need this much money.
Another challenge that charter schools have, is the need (in any kind of financial transaction) to provide some kind of collateral. And so, for new schools, small schools, they don’t own a building. They don’t have assets that they can pledge just for collateral. It’s just very difficult.

I’m really appreciative of how Charter School Capital was able to understand what our need was. We looked at this as a very different way of getting funding based on the one collateral that we do have – and that’s our students.

Charter School Capital has allowed us to work with a product that is flexible in terms of the amount, in terms of the timing. In all the conversations I’ve had with the leaders of Charter School Capital and their entire staff, they always understand what we’re trying to do with our students and how they’re joining us in making it work for our students.
We’ve been working with Charter School Capital now for four years and throughout, they’ve been flexible, and they’ve been very professional, and they’ve allowed us to stay focused on our students.

Starting the relationship with Charter School Capital is different from what we have experienced with other financial institutions in that they are very focused on the viability of the school going forward relative to the charter.

Without Charter School Capital, Academia Avance wouldn’t exist.

Learn more about Charter School Capital Funding

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Charter School Capital Helps Minnesota Charter School Bridge the Gap

Paladin Career and Technical High School believes in the innate strength of young people and their ability to overcome adversity with the right support. Paladin offers an individualized instructional model for each student that incorporates work-based learning, seminars, project-based learning and experiential learning to meet the needs of each individual student. Their mission is to help students realize their own potential and provide an environment for them to thrive. Learn how Charter School Capital helped this Minnesota Charter school bridge a major financing gap so they could continue their important work.

“Paladin is a charter school located in the northern suburbs of Minneapolis. It services at-risk individuals 16 to 21 years old. They’re at risk because they’ve had a hard life. Right now, we have 150 students in our school and on any given night, 20 percent of them – by definition – are homeless. We seek to find them safety. We seek to educate them, and we seek to educate them in different areas. We pay our staff well, but we run it as a business. We don’t have waste. We don’t have excess. This year the state held back 40 percent of our money, whether that’s for your rent or your student population, whatever it is, you’re out of money and you had to do something to bridge the gap.”

Charter School Capital, they understood what we were doing. They have educators on staff they understand the process, understand what running the school means.

It was like, wow, where have you been?
If you come to the graduation ceremony, I guarantee it, we make graduate 20 students, there’ll be 300 people there—mothers, fathers, grandmas, grandpas, aunts, uncles will come up to me and say, John is the first one to graduate from high school in our family. We can’t thank you for what you’ve done for our family. That’s our goal. That’s what we’re trying to accomplish, but I think Charter School Capital’s got unbelievable integrity. Their commitment to the industry of charter schools is unsurpassed. I don’t know anybody else out there doing that, and that’s very, very important. They’re committed to the cause that I believe in.”
~Frank Stucki, Chairman of the Board, Paladin Career & Technical High School

The Charter School Capital team works with you to determine funding and facilities options based on your school’s needs. If you are trying to meet operational expenses, expand, acquire or renovate your school building, add an athletic department, buy new technology, or just bridge a funding gap, simply complete the online application below and we’ll contact you to set up a meeting.

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San Tan Learning Center Grows with Charter School Capital Financing

In this school spotlight, we’re so proud to share how Charter School Capital financing helped San Tan Learning Center, an Arizona charter school, fund their growth and provide the stability they needed so they could stand alone.

San Tan Learning Center began its third year partnering with Charter School Capital to manage the school’s incredible growth since the school was formed in 2006. In that time, the school has grown from 250 students housed in a single 20,000 square foot campus to more than 650 students on two campuses totaling more than 60,000 square feet. That type of “whirlwind growth,” as Dr. Kris Sippel, Principal of San Tan Learning Center, refers to it, means that the school has increased their need for ongoing access to growth capital for more desks, computers, and space to house the students.
A few years ago, a lapse in funding by the State of Arizona combined with the school’s rapid growth meant the staff at San Tan Learning Center, based in Gilbert, Arizona, found themselves wondering where the money was going to come from to meet their changing needs. “I remember sitting in my office thinking ‘how am I going to get that $200,000 that I need’?” recalls. Sippel. “I was going through the mail and came across a postcard from Charter School Capital so I put in a call and a staff member called me back right away to talk about our needs. Their team got me comfortable with the process, pulled the documents together and presented to our Board of Directors.”

“It is a big relief to know that, with Charter School Capital, our organization can stand alone.”
~Dr. Kris Sippel, Principal

Dr. Sippel recognizes that at first, his board was hesitant. “They were worried about fees and paying back a loan with interest,” says Dr. Sippel. However, once the board understood that the funds provided by Charter School Capital were not a loan, the solution was embraced. “This doesn’t have all the rigmarole of a loan.” Dr. Sippel explains, “when I need funds, I get an email from Charter School Capital, process the paperwork, and provide the documents to get the funding –it’s so streamlined, it’s beautiful.”“It is a big relief to know that, with Charter School Capital financing, our organization can stand alone.”Dr. Kris SippelPrincipal
Growth and success for San Tan Learning Center means that they are able to provide quality middle and K-6 education to local students in their community.Dr. Sippelknows that what the school has to offer is unique,“we are a very family-oriented community; it just feels different at San Tan.” And he recognizes that Charter School Capital offered the school an equally unique experience, “Charter School Capital has done such a good job making us feel a part of something –that’s rewarding. You don’t get that feeling at a bank –the relationship piece just isn’t there.”
Dr. Sippel concludes with some advice for other charter schools experiencing rapid growth and facing financial concerns, “Ask yourself, ‘who’s going to sign a bank’s personal guarantee?’ Because it is a big deal; at least it was for me.” But Charter School Capital financing changes all of that. When describing the process, Dr. Sippel refers to something he calls the “3 F’s”: “Finding. Funding. Fast. That’s what they did the first time and that’s what they continue to do.” “It is a big relief to know that, with Charter School Capital, our organization can stand alone.”

Charter School Capital Funding Supports Provisional Accelerated Learning Center’s Success

In this School Spotlight, we share how Charter School Capital funding helped Provisional Accelerated Learning Center (PAL) become financially solvent. Read this full case study to learn more about PAL and how they partnered with Charter School Capital to fill funding gaps.

In the mid-1980s, San Bernardino’s traditional public high schools were suffering a dropout rate of 40-50%. The system was failing. The community was in desperate need of help, and The Provisional Accelerated Learning (PAL) Center opened to provide a new path.
Understanding how critical a strong education is to success, The PAL Center began as a not-for-profit tutorial program in 1984 to help those students most at-risk. As the program expanded, it evolved into a charter school that now serves approximately 700 students. The PAL Center welcomes students in grades 9–12 hoping to earn their diploma as well as 19– 21-year-olds seeking job skills training and career placement assistance.
“We’re all about giving young people a second start in life,” says Lawrence T. Hampton, chief financial officer for The PAL Center. “We have specialized in working with students who have been the hardest to serve.” Though designed to focus on those students most in-need, Hampton notes an interesting trend that has occurred in recent years.
“We’re becoming more of a school of choice. When we first started, we strictly took those students that were headed toward dropout,” he explains. But in the late 2000s, “we started seeing more incoming freshmen choosing to come to school here instead of being referred… So it’s been fun to watch that transition.”
The reasons The PAL Center has grown from a school of last resort to the first choice for so many are the non-traditional benefits it offers students.
The school operates from 7:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. four days a week, providing students with the open schedule many of them need to hold jobs or help with their families. In addition, the school is located just outside of the city in a quiet area surrounded by mountains. This picturesque setting helps encourage calm and focus.
Finally, class sizes average around 21 students, helping teachers provide more personal attention than students would receive at other area high schools where class sizes are larger.
Despite the school’s successful track record, Hampton has had to manage challenges threatening The PAL Center’s existence. Deferrals of state payments in California forced the school to tap into its savings, which proved to be insufficient as the deferrals increased. The school also obtained a credit line, but it quickly ran out. School administrators – having made a promise to the students and families of San Bernardino – needed to find a more permanent solution.
The PAL Center’s accountant referred the school to Charter School Capital for funding. Within a few weeks, the two organizations began a long-term relationship that at times has been a lifeline to the school.

“The relationship has allowed us to stay financially solvent, and I can honestly say without that we would’ve been out of the charter school business,” says Hampton. “This school would have folded.”

“They have taken a personal interest in seeing us survive, and that comes through quickly when you’re talking to them. It’s more than just business, and I’m grateful for them.”

Charter School Capital is committed to the success of charter schools and has solely focused on funding charter schools since the company’s inception in 2007. Our depth of experience working with charter school leaders and our knowledge of how to address charter school financial and operational needs have allowed us to provide over $1.6 billion in support of 600 charter schools that educate 800,000 students across the country. For more information on how receivable sales will benefit your charter school, contact us!

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