Category: Uncategorized

 

Indiana Charter Schools: A Case Study in Evaluating Charter School Performance

Indiana’s charter school sector offers valuable insights for understanding how policy environments, demographics, and performance metrics interact to create successful educational options. By examining Indiana’s experience, charter school leaders and policymakers in other states can learn practical lessons about building effective charter school sectors.

Indiana’s Charter School Foundation

Indiana became the 38th state to authorize charter schools in 2001, but its law created an exceptionally favorable environment that has earned recognition as having the nation’s best charter school policies for three consecutive years.

Assessing The State Of Indiana Charter Schools

Key Policy Elements:

  • Multiple entities can authorize charter schools (not just school districts)
  • No caps on charter school numbers
  • Equivalent accountability requirements to traditional public schools
  • Comprehensive oversight and renewal processes
Performance Analysis: What the Data Shows
Academic Achievement Patterns

Strong Performers: Indiana’s top two high schools according to US News & World Report are charter schools: Signature School in Evansville and Herron High School in Indianapolis.

Comparative Performance (2017 State Data):

  • Brick-and-mortar charters: 36.2% earned A or B ratings
  • Similar traditional public schools: 30.4% earned A or B ratings
  • Virtual charter schools: Consistently poor performance (all F ratings)
Demographic Service Patterns

Indiana charter schools serve more challenging student populations compared to similar traditional schools:

  • Higher percentages of low-income students
  • Greater minority student enrollment
  • Similar special education service rates
  • Concentrated in historically underperforming districts
Lessons for Other States: Key Success Factors
Policy Environment Impact

What Indiana’s Experience Teaches: Strong charter laws create conditions for growth and innovation, but quality varies significantly by model and implementation.

Replicable Policy Elements:

  • Multiple authorizer options increase innovation
  • No enrollment caps allow market-driven growth
  • Equivalent accountability prevents double standards
  • Geographic flexibility enables serving diverse communities
Performance Differentiation by Model
Assessing The State Of Indiana Charter Schools (2)

Brick-and-Mortar Success: Traditional charter schools in Indiana consistently outperform virtual options, suggesting that in-person instruction models may be more effective for most students.

Virtual School Challenges: Universal poor performance of virtual charters in Indiana mirrors national concerns about online-only education models.

Geographic Expansion Patterns

Urban Foundation: Charter schools typically establish strong footholds in urban districts with underperforming traditional options before expanding.

Suburban and Rural Growth: Successful urban models can expand to serve families seeking alternatives in higher-performing districts.

Future Trends: What to Watch in Indiana and Beyond
Predicted Expansion Areas

Indianapolis Township Growth: As urban charter markets saturate, successful operators are likely to expand into suburban townships, testing whether charter schools can succeed in higher-performing traditional districts.

Successful Model Replication: Proven charter operators like Purdue Polytechnic and Indianapolis Classical Schools are positioned for multi-site growth.

Rural Community Solutions: Rural charter schools in Indiana (like Dugger Union and Mays Community Academy) demonstrate how communities can use charter options to maintain local schools when traditional districts face closure.

minnesota charter schoolCharter 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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California Charter School LegislationThe Potential Impact of the California Legislative Session on Charter Schools

Last Friday, the California State Legislature adjourned for the year after sending hundreds of bills to the Governor for his signature. Several of the proposed bills from this recent California legislative session could have an impact on charter schools.
With elections being held in November, a new legislature will convene on the first Monday in December for an organizational session. They will meet for one day and then they will reconvene again in January.
Here are the bills – that could impact charter schools  – on the Governor’s desk awaiting his signature or veto:

  • AB 406 by Assemblyman McCarty would ban charter schools operating by or as a for-profit.
  • AB 1871 by Assemblyman Bonta would require charter schools to provide meals for students who qualify for the free and reduced lunch program.
  • AB 2601 by Assemblywoman Webber would mandate that charter school students in grades 7-12 receive comprehensive sexual health and HIV prevention education.
  • SB 328 by Senator Portantino would mandate that middle and high schools could not start school before 8:30 a.m.
  • SB 972 by Senator Portantino would require all schools serving pupils in grades 7-12 that issue pupil identification cards to have printed on that card the number for a suicide prevention hotline or crisis text line.

Fortunately, the Governor has been a strong charter school supporter and will probably look favorably on these pieces of legislation. If he signs any of them, charter schools will need to make sure that they are prepared for changes in the laws. At the very least, it would be a lot to implement at the local level.
To view any of these measures in their entirety, go to leginfo.legislature.ca.gov and hit the bill information link at the top left of the page.

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 $1.6 billion in support of 600 charter schools that educate 800,000 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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charter school honor

Charter School Students Get Recognized by the National Honor Society

At Charter School Capital, a big part of our mission is to further the charter school movement and celebrating the achievements of charter school students, so we are thrilled to be sharing this incredibly inspirational story of success!
We recently had the honor of speaking with Debra Sellers, from Cincinnati College Preparatory Academy (CCPA), and learned how she persevered to get CCPA’s deserving charter school students acknowledged by the National Honor Society (NHS).
More than just an honor roll, NHS serves to recognize students who have demonstrated excellence in the areas of scholarship, service, leadership, and character. Sellers knew that CCPA’s hard-working and dedicated public charter school scholars deserved recognition the same way their traditional public-school counterparts have since 1921. But it wasn’t going to be easy.

About Debra Sellers

Debra came to CCPA in 2014 as an online instructor, facilitating online courses. For the past two years, she has been serving in the capacity of the guidance counselor. She’s been a guidance counselor and career access coordinator for schools ever since 2002. Prior to her work at CCPA, she was working for Cincinnati Public Schools. Her broad and impressive background includes an undergraduate degree in Human Resources (HR) Training and Development, a Master’s Degree in Social Work with an emphasis in mental health, and a long-running professional career in education.
Sellers is currently CCPA’s Guidance and Career Counselor, but I wanted to better understand how her diverse background and training led to this particular role and why getting NHS recognition for her students would be so important to her.
“I thought, how am I helping? … With HR, I trained in development. You train, and you develop students to transition into the workforce or college. That allowed me to be able to use my experience in that area helping them with resumes, interviewing, assessing what the needs were over the years, and just being able to give them some guidance in that area.
Then, when I thought about grad school, I would have gone for guidance counselor. But, I also have this double life. I work in a residential treatment facility. So, I’ve work in chemical dependency treatment prevention for the past seventeen years. So, I ended up getting a master’s in social work because it was a broad degree that could land me kind of anywhere. Because with social work you are a counselor, you are helping people. You are meeting their needs and trying to get them connected to community-based organizations, helping them to think about basic things like food, clothing, and shelter.
I kind of put those two together, but my resources together, which has been very beneficial to me as I am working with high school students making their transition to the larger picture called life.”

In hot pursuit of National Honor Society Recognition

charter school studentsComing from her experience with previous schools, she knew that student performance recognition was very important for motivating students towards academic success. Recognition, however, was only one piece of the puzzle. Practically speaking, and from her HR background perspective, she knew that recognition from an organization such as the National Honor Society looks really good on a college resume.
She made the first request to the NHS for CCPA in 2014, but at that time, they were not accepting charter schools—only traditional public schools. The frustrating result was that she wasn’t able to get CCPA students recognized. For the past nearly four years, Sellers was unapologetically tenacious, refusing to give up.

“I knew it would be a really nice motivational piece to encourage students to excel academically because I know it looks good on a resume, and it looks good on a college application. It just, it helps to boost morale, self-esteem, and just encouraging the students to continue what they had already been doing—achieving academically.”

“Every year I would call and then they kept saying, ‘You have to go online.’ And I did, and it just wouldn’t go through. I started in 2014. I just kept trying.
In 2017, I called the National Honor Society (again) and told them what I was trying to do and what had been my issue over the last several years. They were like, ‘Well, just go ahead and re-submit your application again this year.’ Then, when it was approved they simply said, ‘Okay, now you just have to pay your charter membership.’ I was like, ‘Oh my God. Oh my God. We’re going have a National Honor Society!’”
With a chuckle, she goes on to share that she was equally excited when that they said, “You’re going to be billed.” And, from her enthusiastic recounting of that moment, I can safely say I don’t think anyone has ever been more excited to get a bill … ever.
“When they finally opened to us, I was like, ‘Oh yes! We have to do this!’”
I asked her what she thought changed – finally in 2017 – to make the NHS want to recognize charter school students. “Well, I don’t think they recognized charter schools, period. You had to go to a more traditional high school. I think that they looked at the fact that they are accredited, each state recognizes them, and that there’s a growing number of public charter schools nationwide.”

This was a big deal

Cincinnati College Preparatory AcademyBecoming a member of the National Honor Society is – as the name perhaps already implies – a tremendous honor for students. One that’s been experienced by high school scholars at traditional public schools around the country for decades. For this, CCPA’s first year having their charter school students recognized, Sellers wanted to make sure it had all the pomp and circumstance that the CCPA honorees, their proud families, and school community deserved.
”We just really wanted it to be something that the students knew this was a big deal. We put together a formal ceremony. We had all the candles, the pinning, we did the oath, we had a guest speaker (a TV personality from the local station), we held the ceremony in the evening, we had 33 students, and they all signed a book. It was really a nice ceremony.”
But, for even more impact on the students, Sellers kept the induction into the NHS as well as all of the planning for this huge event a secret from the honorees.
“I didn’t tell them. I kept wandering around the school and asking them random things. I gave certain kids cards and asked them for their addresses. I never told them what it was, and they had no idea until they received the letter at home. I wanted it to be a surprise for them to know that they were being recognized. After receiving their letters, they excitedly came back and asked, ‘What is this? What is this?’ So, I gave them a little background of what it was. The following Monday their names were on the school marquee in the atrium so the whole student body could see who the National Honor Society inductees were.”

Just the beginning

Cincinnati College Preparatory AcademyAn impressive 33 tenth, eleventh, and twelfth graders out of CCPAs 182 students were recognized this March. The graduating seniors were specially recognized with stoles that included their new National Honor Society patch.
Sellers shares,“I wanted them to know that this is an honor and it says something about you … you and the work that you have done during your high school years, and this is a way of being recognized—and it’s by a reputable organization, the National Honor Society.”
Sellers is not stopping here and is dedicated to continuing her progress ¬– and not just for the CCPA students. Although students cannot become members of NHS until high school, she’s getting a jumpstart on middle-school-aged students in her area to begin thinking about the National Junior Honor Society (NJHS). “If I have my wish, we’re going down to junior high. They have one that’s for sixth, seventh, eighth graders. I’m trying to get them on board. That’s my goal this year. If you get them to really be thinking about the bigger picture, if you say, ‘I want to become an engineer,’ you don’t start that in your senior year. You start that back there. It’s a process.”
We are always honored to share the amazing work that charter school leaders are doing across the country to make a difference and help forward charter school movement. Debra Sellers is a prime example of the commitment, dedication, and outstanding work charter leaders are doing—and that deserves our recognition. We thank her for taking the time to speak with us and for paving the way for other charter schools to motivate and honor their students’ achievements in the same way.

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 $1.6 billion in support of 600 charter schools that educate 800,000 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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Charter school solutionThe Charter School Solution: A Better Education for All

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published here on May 12, 2018, and authored by Nina Rees, the president and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.
Studies have shown that the existence of public charters has often improved traditional public school performance in those communities. And, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also called the Nation’s Report Card, public charter schools are showing that they are often outperforming their traditional public school counterparts. The NAEP also shows that charter schools are more effective at helping students from lower-income backgrounds make up ground on their peers. It’s important to bring these studies to light to help support the charter school movement and continue to create the opportunities for unique and diverse educational access for all students.
We think it’s vital to keep tabs on the pulse of all things related to charter schools, including informational resources, and how to support charter school growth. We hope you find this—and any other article we curate—both interesting and valuable. Please read on to learn more.

Charter Schools Point toward a Better Education for All

Published May 12, 2018

As National Charter Schools Week wraps up, new data show their potential to improve students’ scores.
One thing nearly every expert in the field will tell you is that we have a long way to go before every student in America is getting a good education.
The recent results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also called the Nation’s Report Card, confirmed as much. The NAEP is administered to a sample of students in a variety of subjects from across the country every two years. Its latest math and reading scores for fourth- and eighth-graders showed a general stagnation.
But there were bright spots, too. Students in the nation’s largest cities, who on average score lower than students elsewhere, are at least narrowing the gap. It’s hard to pinpoint a specific reason for this improvement. But education reformers have focused most of their energy on urban areas for years, precisely because these students have trailed their suburban counterparts, and the results of the NAEP suggest that their efforts may be bearing fruit.
One of the most important and ambitious parts of those efforts has been the introduction of public charter schools to America’s metropoles. Across 43 states and Washington, D.C., many parents in large cities can choose which public school their child will attend. By embracing various teaching methods and academic focuses, charter schools give more students access to a school that brings out the best in them.
The NAEP data show that charter schools contributed to the growth in urban test scores. In 2017, charter schools outperformed district schools across all four grade and subject levels in large cities (although the difference was not statistically significant for fourth-grade math). Across the four grade and subject levels, big-city charter-school students improved by an average of eleven points over the past ten years, while traditional public-school students improved by an average of five points.
This is good news as we celebrate National Charter Schools Week and bring attention to the way charter schools are changing the educational dynamic for nearly 3.2 million students across America. But rather than crow about improving scores, we should understand these test results for what they are — a tool to help parents, teachers, school leaders, advocates, and policymakers find out what’s working in American classrooms, and spread those best practices to more schools.
For instance, both the NAEP data and other research indicate that charter schools are especially effective at helping students from lower-income backgrounds make up ground on their peers. Educational leaders in the states and cities where charter schools delivered strong NAEP results for these students — Arizona, D.C., Texas, Colorado, Florida — have put a premium on incorporating charter schools into the public-school mix. Both D.C. and Denver public schools have been lauded for the strong cooperation between their charter-school movements and school districts. Texas has also promoted closer consultation between district and charter leaders, and Arizona, Texas, and D.C. have made it a priority to ensure that charter-school authorizers — the entities that award and revoke charter contracts and monitor performance — put a strong focus on quality. In Colorado and Florida, legislators have made funding fairness a priority, closing the gap between what district and charter schools receive for instruction and facilities.
The quality of charter schools varies across the country, and even within states and cities — just as it does with district schools. But one of the hallmarks of the charter-school movement is to confront low-quality head-on (as has been happening with virtual charter schools, which suffer from a lot of poor performers) and close schools when they aren’t serving students well.

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What NAEP and other tests can do is point us toward high-performing schools, cities, and states that can serve as models for others. Tests shouldn’t supersede the judgment of parents and policymakers, but they can inform that judgment, by helping us to calibrate our educational compass toward success. The more we can replicate success, the more students will benefit.
As the nation celebrates the charter schools bringing new options to students and parents, the NAEP results are further evidence that policymakers who want to get closer to the goal of giving every student access to a great education should support the growth of the charter movement.

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 we can support your charter school, contact us!

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Demystifying Bond Financing for Charter School Leaders

Charter school bond financing represents one of the most complex yet potentially advantageous funding mechanisms available for educational facility projects. While only 12% of charter schools nationwide successfully secure bond financing, understanding when and how bonds work can unlock significant opportunities for the right schools at the right time.

This comprehensive guide breaks down everything charter school leaders need to know about bond financing, from basic concepts through qualification requirements, helping you determine whether bonds align with your school’s facility financing strategy.

What Are Municipal Bonds and How Do They Work for Charter Schools?
Understanding Municipal Bond Basics

Municipal bonds are debt securities issued by government entities or qualified organizations to finance public projects. For charter schools, these bonds provide access to tax-exempt financing that can significantly reduce borrowing costs compared to traditional commercial loans.

Key Bond Characteristics:

  • Tax-Exempt Status: Interest earned by bondholders is typically exempt from federal and often state taxes
  • Long-Term Financing: Bond terms usually range from 20-30 years
  • Fixed Interest Rates: Provides predictable debt service costs throughout the bond term
  • Large Transaction Sizes: Most bonds are issued for projects of $10 million or more
How Charter School Bonds Differ from Traditional Financing

Unlike bank loans or lease agreements, bonds involve selling debt securities to multiple investors in the public market. This process requires extensive documentation, legal review, and ongoing compliance but can provide more favorable interest rates for qualified schools.

Bond Market Structure:

  • Issuer: The entity responsible for bond payments (often the charter school or related organization)
  • Underwriter: Investment bank that manages the bond sale process
  • Trustee: Third party that oversees bond compliance and payments
  • Credit Enhancement: Insurance or guarantees that improve bond ratings
  • Investors: Individual and institutional buyers who purchase the bonds
When Charter School Bond Financing Makes Strategic Sense
Ideal Candidates for Bond Financing

Bond financing works best for charter schools that meet specific criteria related to stability, size, and long-term planning.

Optimal School Characteristics:

  • Mature Operations: Schools with at least 5-7 years of operational history
  • Stable Enrollment: Consistent or growing student populations with waiting lists
  • Strong Financials: Healthy operating margins and cash reserves
  • Permanent Facility Needs: Schools ready for their “forever home” without expansion plans
  • Large Project Size: Facility investments of $10+ million to justify transaction costs
The Charter School Bond Financing Process: Step by Step
Https Growschools Com Article Best Practices For Charter School Facilities Financing
Phase 1: Pre-Qualification and Planning (6-12 months)

Financial Assessment:

  • Comprehensive review of school’s financial history and projections
  • Analysis of enrollment trends and market position
  • Evaluation of debt capacity and coverage ratios
  • Assessment of cash reserves and working capital needs

Feasibility Analysis:

  • Project cost estimation and budget development
  • Market analysis for proposed facility location
  • Educational program alignment with facility design
  • Long-term strategic planning confirmation
Phase 2: Team Assembly and Documentation (3-6 months)

Professional Team Selection:

  • Bond Counsel: Legal experts specializing in municipal bond law
  • Underwriter: Investment bank to manage the bond sale process
  • Financial Advisor: Independent advisor representing the school’s interests
  • Trustee: Institution to oversee ongoing bond compliance
  • Credit Rating Agencies: Organizations that assess and rate the bonds

Documentation Development:

  • Official Statement: Comprehensive disclosure document for investors
  • Bond Indenture: Legal agreement outlining bond terms and conditions
  • Continuing Disclosure Agreement: Ongoing reporting requirements
  • Credit Enhancement Applications: If applicable for better rates
Phase 3: Credit Rating and Marketing (2-3 months)

Credit Rating Process:

  • Detailed presentation to rating agencies (Moody’s, S&P, Fitch)
  • Site visits and management interviews
  • Financial analysis and stress testing
  • Rating assignment that affects interest rates

Bond Marketing:

  • Investor presentations and roadshows
  • Market timing and pricing strategies
  • Order collection and allocation
  • Final pricing based on market demand
Phase 4: Closing and Implementation (1-2 months)

Final Documentation:

  • Legal review and execution of all bond documents
  • Funding arrangements and escrow establishment
  • Insurance and compliance confirmations
  • Bond delivery and payment processing
Making the Decision: Is Bond Financing Right for Your School?

Charter school bond financing represents a powerful tool for the right schools at the right time, but it’s not suitable for every situation. Success requires careful assessment of your school’s readiness, thorough understanding of the process, and realistic evaluation of alternatives.

The schools that benefit most from bond financing are those that have achieved operational maturity, demonstrated long-term stability, and are ready to make permanent facility commitments that will serve their communities for decades to come.

Whether bond financing aligns with your school’s strategy depends on your specific circumstances, timeline, and long-term vision. The key is making an informed decision based on comprehensive analysis rather than assumptions about what financing approach is best.

Webinar: Top Five Financial Mistakes Charter Schools Make…And How to Avoid Them

Join us for our live webinar this week!

We’re going to answer one really important question, “How do we avoid the top financial mistakes that charter schools make?” We’re being joined by some leaders of Desert Star Academy, SALTech, and Wayne Preparatory – and they’ll be generously and bravely sharing the mistakes they’ve made as charter leaders, and of course how they solved those problems for the future.
We presented some of this content at the National Charter School Conference in Austin, Texas last month to a standing-room-only audience, so we’re bringing it back as a webinar for those that weren’t able to make it out to Austin. Join us to understand the five mistakes and you’ll walk away armed with the tools you’ll need to avoid them.
Our esteemed panelists:
Margie Montgomery, Founder / Executive Director, Desert Star Academy
Michael LaRoche, Founder / Executive Director, SALTech Charter High School
Sharon Thompson, Chairman of the Board, Wayne Preparatory Academy
Tricia Blum, Head of Business Consulting, Charter School Capital

Top Five Financial Mistakes Charter Schools Make…And How to Avoid Them
Wednesday, July 25, 2018
9:00 a.m. PT/ 12:00 p.m. ET

We hope to see you there!
REGISTER

Missed this event? Check out the recording here!

 

charter school investmentsWalton Family Announces $100 Million for Charter School Investments

Editor’s Note: This post about the Walton Family grants towards charter school investments was originally published here, on June 19, 2018, by the Walton Family Foundation.

More than $100 million in new grants will support diverse and innovative school models and leaders

AUSTIN, Texas – Today, the Walton Family Foundation announced efforts to build and expand on two decades of school startup grants to fuel the growth of high-quality schools across the country. The strategy, detailed in Rooted in Opportunity: The Walton Family Foundation’s Approach to Starting and Growing High-Quality Schools, includes continued grants to proven organizations, like those that help create successful charter schools, with an expanded focus on innovative school models to meet the learning needs of all children. Foundation grants totaling more than $100 million will allow educators and leaders to launch hundreds of schools in the coming years.
“Thanks to courageous school founders – overwhelmingly teachers who have a vision for what school can be – we know that quality schools that put children on a path to college and career success at scale are possible,” said Walton Family Foundation K-12 Education Director Marc Sternberg. “But the simple truth is that a great school remains out of reach for too many families. So we’ve got to do more – more to support educators with a passion and plan for something better, more for families who look to schools as a pathway to opportunity. And in order to build on two decades of work, we need partners old and new in philanthropy and positions of civic leadership who share a vision for the day when all children have access to a school that is right for them.”

Areas of continued and new support are:

Starting and scaling more proven high-quality public charter schools.
Building Excellent Schools: Identify, recruit and train leaders to launch high-quality public charter schools across the country.
KIPP: Grants that support all of KIPP’s strategic priorities including growth, academics, talent and the KIPP Through College program.
Supporting district and private schools that are embracing accountability and autonomy.
Indianapolis Public Schools: Expansion of school-based autonomy and principal trainings.
Partnership Schools: To bring a proven turnaround model to struggling Catholic schools.
Implementing diverse pedagogical approaches.
Big Picture Learning: Open 15 new public schools focused on real-world learning through internships and other activities.
Wildflower: Support for opening new, teacher-led Montessori schools in this network of district, private and forthcoming micro-charter schools across the country.
Increasing early-stage support for leaders of color
Teaching Excellence: Train and support at least 620 educators, 70 percent of whom will identify as people of color, to teach across 15 charter organizations and school districts.
Camelback Ventures: Recruit, train and support leaders and entrepreneurs as they start schools or education-focused ventures across the country.
Navigating the student transition from secondary to post-secondary college and career
The Match Foundation: Grow the college-support program Duet, which provides flexible and affordable degree programs and start-to-finish college coaching.
YouthForce NOLA: Help hundreds of New Orleans students secure internships and earn industry-recognized credentials, putting them on a path to high-wage jobs.
Growing schools that are serving special student populations well
CHIME Institute: Grow the network of fully-inclusive schools where students with and without special needs outperform state averages.
Collegiate Academies: Expand Opportunities Academy, a rigorous full-day program that helps students with moderate to significant disabilities reach their highest potential.
Starting more schools that serve students of diverse backgrounds
Bricolage Academy: Support to help the New Orleans school grow to meet the needs of local families. Currently, six times as many students seek enrollment at Bricolage than the school has capacity to serve.
Diverse Charter Schools Coalition: Study, source and share best practices of intentionally diverse public charter schools. Work closely with a select number of future school leaders to incubate and launch new schools.
Early stage support for entrepreneurs
Reframe Labs: Recruit and support diverse leaders as they design and open innovative public schools in Los Angeles.
4.0 Schools: Recruit and support early stage entrepreneurs developing transformative schools, learning spaces and technology tools.
“Quality public schools are the bedrock of thriving communities and a strong democratic society. The investments that the Walton Family Foundation is making in innovation, accountability for serving students well, and diversity in American public education are heartening because of the difference they will make in the lives of students and families across the country,” said former U.S. Secretary of Education and CEO and President of The Education Trust John B. King, Jr. “More students, particularly those from low-income backgrounds and students of color, will be able to receive rich learning opportunities, successfully transition from P-12 into college and careers, and attend intentionally diverse public schools — with diverse, effective teachers and school leaders. I’m looking forward to the ways in which these important efforts will advance excellence and equity in public education.”
Some of the most impactful grants that span multiple focus areas include:

Charter School Growth Fund

Charter School Growth Fund invests in talented education entrepreneurs who are building networks of great charter schools. To date, CSGF has funded networks that operate more than 870 schools that serve over 370,000 students. Walton’s most recent support will help CSGF identify, develop and train school leaders of color with proven educational track records who have a high potential for success in starting and scaling high-performing charter management organizations.

NewSchools Venture Fund

NewSchools Venture Fund is a venture philanthropy that raises contributions from donors and uses them to find, fund and support teams of educators, and entrepreneurs who are reimagining public education and opening high-quality, innovative schools. New support from the Walton Family Foundation will allow NewSchools to support early-stage ventures that will increase the proportion of Black and Latino leaders in Prek-12 education, as well as incubate and support the launch of more than 30 schools.

Valor Collegiate Academies

Valor Collegiate Academies is a network of high-performing, intentionally diverse public charter schools in Nashville, TN. This support will allow Valor to codify its successful model that blends academic rigor and social-emotional learning and share best practices with schools in Nashville and across the nation.
“Every child deserves access to a great school, which is why it’s important to see a strong commitment to accountability,” said former U.S. Secretary of Education and Managing Partner at Emerson Collective Arne Duncan. “To continue our progress as a country, we need to aim higher for all children and all schools.”
“It requires a collective effort to have a transformative effect on the lives of students and teachers across our great nation,” said former U.S. Secretary of Education and University of North Carolina System President Margaret Spellings. “I applaud the Walton Family Foundation for undertaking this optimistic endeavor, and I am inspired to see their willingness to address issues in education through a varied and holistic approach.”
“As former Houston Superintendent and US Secretary of Education, I saw firsthand the power and importance of new school startup support provided by the Walton Family Foundation,” said former U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige. “These resources allowed thousands of passionate educators and other community members to open new schools that today prove what is possible in public education and how to change for the better the lives of children, families and communities across the nation.”
The Walton Family Foundation has supported the creation of more than 2,200 charter, district and private schools with $424 million in grants since 1997. These schools now serve about 840,000 children nationwide.

About the Walton Family Foundation

The Walton Family Foundation is, at its core, a family-led foundation. The children and grandchildren of our founders, Sam and Helen Walton, lead the foundation and create access to opportunity for people and communities. We work in three areas: improving K-12 education, protecting rivers and oceans and the communities they support, and investing in our home region of Northwest Arkansas and the Arkansas-Mississippi Delta. In 2016, the foundation awarded more than $454 million in grants in support of these initiatives. To learn more, visit waltonfamilyfoundation.org and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

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 $1.6 billion in support of 600 charter schools that educate 800,000 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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Charter School FinancingCharter School Financing: Myths vs. Facts

From funding your growth, managing deferrals, to investment in facilities, get ahead of the game knowing these five charter school financing myths & facts!
charter school financing
Tweet: 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: 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.

charter school financing
 
Tweet: MYTH: Growth capital should only be used in the case of state funding delays or deferrals or as a last resort. FACT: Growth capital is incredibly flexible and can be used for operational growth, program enhancements, technology upgrades, school expansion, etc. MYTH: Growth capital should only be used in the case of state funding delays or deferrals or as a last resort.
FACT: Growth capital is incredibly flexible and can be used for operational growth, program enhancements, technology upgrades, school expansion, etc.


Tweet: 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: 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.


Tweet: MYTH: Bonds are the best way to fund a facility. FACT: Only 12% of charter schools have accessed bond financing. The process of securing a bond is often time-consuming and can incur hidden fees from audits, trustees and rating agencies.MYTH: Bonds are the best way to fund a facility.
FACT: Only 12% of charter schools have accessed bond financing. The process of securing a bond is often time-consuming and can incur hidden fees from audits, trustees and rating agencies.
Source: LISC, Charter School Bond Issuance, 2015

Charter School Financing
Tweet: MYTH: Charter schools should own their facilities. 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: Charter schools should own their facilities.
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.

 
If you’d like to download the PDF version of this infographic, click here.

 
Charter School Budgeting
Charter School Budgeting Best Practices: Don’t Just Survive–Thrive!
Since the opening of Charter School Capital 10 years ago, we’ve reviewed thousands of charter school budgets. Year after year, we see common mistakes many charter schools make when budgeting for their academic year. Hear from charter school finance experts as they give you a breakdown of budgeting best practices to help you have a financially successful academic year. Don’t just survive — thrive!

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school choice
Editor’s Note: With the anniversary of our nation’s independence next week, I thought that addressing the idea of freedom, and more specifically freedom of choice in education was a timely topic. We understand the flexibility in the educational curriculum that public charter schools offer needs to be balanced with accountability. But there has been much debate over the effect that public charter schools have on traditional public schools. This article takes a closer look at the benefits of school choice. It also shows that no evidence or study exists supporting the argument that public charter schools harm traditional public schools. But rather, evidence has been shown to the contrary: the existence of public charters has often improved traditional public school performance in those communities.
We think it’s vital to keep tabs on the pulse of all things related to charter schools, including informational resources,  and how to support charter school growth. We hope you find this—and any other article we curate—both interesting and valuable. Please read on to learn more.

*This op-ed article on the benefits of school choice was originally posted here on February 28, 20118 by the Desert News and written by Teresa Mull (tmull@heartland.org), a research fellow in education policy at The Heartland Institute.

School Choice Doesn’t Destroy Traditional Public Schools; It Makes Them Better

The go-to mantra of many traditional government school advocates is that education-choice programs destroy neighborhood public schools. Their argument is flawed for a couple of reasons. The first is it shouldn’t matter if traditional public schools go the way of the dodo if children, despite public schools’ demise, are receiving a better education. And then there is the fact that their argument is simply not true.
The presence of education-choice options doesn’t “destroy” public education, but it does make existing government schools step up their game, as Sarah A. Cordes wrote in a recent EdNext study titled “ Charters and the Common Good.”
She wrote, “I find that students in district schools do better when charters open nearby: Students in these schools earn higher scores on reading and math tests and are less likely to repeat a grade. The closer the schools, the larger the effect: Co-location increases test scores by 0.08 standard deviations in math and 0.06 in reading.”
The effects are modest, as Cordes noted, but what’s equally important in the school-choice debate is that charters have “no significant negative effects on student performance at district schools nearby,” and “it may be beneficial (and certainly not harmful) to allow for further expansion in NYC.”
Cordes concluded that her findings “show that communities can expand charter schools to meet growing demand without putting district schools at risk of instability or failure. Far from an existential threat to their district-school neighbors, public charter schools can benefit not only their own students but also those in other programs down the street — or hallway.”
Cordes’ findings are a great boon to the education-choice debate. The more policymakers, and constituents who try to persuade them, are armed with evidence showing school choice works, the more likely it is good policy will come into being, right? To quote Ernest Hemingway, “Isn’t it pretty to think so?”
The reality is the free-market system of school choice has always had research on its side. EdChoice.org reported, for instance, “Thirty-one empirical studies (including all methods) have examined private school choice’s impact on academic outcomes in public schools. Within that body of research, 29 studies find that choice improved the performance of nearby public schools. One study finds no significant effects. To date, no empirical study has found that school choice harms students in public schools.”
What’s more, “The research shows that students in school-choice programs attend more integrated schools than their public school counterparts,” EdChoice reported.
There goes the false “School choice only benefits high-income, white families” narrative public school proponents have been peddling for decades. After all, how could a system that forces students to attend the school that corresponds with their ZIP code do anything but segregate by income level? The U.S. Government Accountability Office reported in 2016 that segregation in America’s public schools has actually increased in recent years.
Education choice is good for society. That’s not news to those of us who have been paying attention to the school-choice debate in recent years, and it’s no surprise that the educational elite, who remain committed to their plan to control education for everyone in America, would propagate myths about education choice to maintain their power, prestige and hefty incomes. But studies like Cordes’ are nevertheless vital for growing the school-choice movement.
The more school choice we have, the more evidence there will be supporting its value to society, and pretty soon, we’ll have so much overwhelming proof that even teachers unions and the politicians they control won’t be able to ignore it any longer.

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 we can support your charter school, contact us!

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