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It’s a new year and time for garnering new facilities knowledge for charter school leaders. Join us for our upcoming facilities webinar chock full of information useful to help charter schools make decisions about their facilities needs.
Register today!
Access to adequate facilities remains one of the biggest challenges charter leaders face today. We will touch on options charter leaders have and walk through the information needed to make informed facilities decisions.
WHEN: Thursday, February 16 at 9:00 a.m. Pacific / 12:00 p.m. Eastern.
SPEAKERS:
Larry Rieder, President, Charter School Property Solutions. He has over 30 years of experience in commercial real estate and has negotiated over $900 million of aggregate lease and equity transactions on behalf of major corporations. He founded CSPS to develop new, long-term academic facilities for charter school institutions. CSPS helps schools by managing the overwhelming tasks of locating, purchasing, financing, constructing and renovating academic facilities throughout the United States. The company has completed projects in Florida, New Mexico, Ohio, Nevada, Texas, and South Carolina.

Stuart Ellis, President & CEO, 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 company has provided more than $1.2 billion in support of more than 550 charter schools educating 600,000 students.

Charter School Capital is proud to support National School Choice Week this week (and every week) by providing working and growth capital, charter school facilities financing and other resources to help charter leaders be successful. But don’t take our word for it! Hear from the charter leaders about how we’ve provided funding to help educate students.

To join the conversation with Charter School Capital, follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Have a great #schoolchoice week!

National School Choice Week (NSCW) is here! Held every January, NSCW shines a spotlight on effective education options for every child across the United States.
Last year, the week boasted the largest series of education-related events in US history, including more than 16,000 events and 227 governors, mayors and county leaders with the goal of raising public awareness of all types of education options for children – including, of course, charter schools. NSCW is also hosting live broadcasts throughout the week, where you can keep up with activities across the country.
Join the conversation with Charter School Capital, as we share stories and quotes about school choice on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Follow all the school choice week festivities, events and conversation using the #schoolchoice and #SCW hashtags.
We would also love to hear what you’re doing to celebrate the week. Leave us a comment below. Have a great #schoolchoice week!

Join us on Facebook Live for Growth Strategy and Facilities Financing knowledge with:

Dr. Darlene Chambers, Senior Vice President for Programs and Services at the National Charter Schools Institute
Mike Morley, President and CEO American Charter Development
Clint Satow, Vice President of Operations Performance Academies
Stuart Ellis, President and CEO Charter School Capital

Still time to register!

Finding and securing state-of-the-art facilities and financing is one of the biggest challenges facing charter school leaders this year. Learn about the various options and how to evaluate what is best for your school.
Join our President and CEO, Stuart Ellis, and the Senior Vice President of Dougherty & Company, Dick Ward, on Wednesday, November 30th from 9-10 a.m. PDT / 12-1 p.m. EDT for an exclusive webinar:
How Should Charter Leaders Approach Facilities Financing Options?
Attendees will learn:

Funding structures and options available
Pros and cons to various financing options
Balancing needs versus wants for your facility
Facing budget realities
Facilities planning best practices

Featured Speakers:
Dick Ward, Senior Vice President, Dougherty & Company
Dick Ward has 27 years experience in bond issuance and finance as an investment banker and financial advisor to schools, governments, non-profits, and developers. His experience includes tax supported and revenue based financings for education, housing, municipal utilities, and specialized project financing. In the last 15+ years, he has helped pioneer access to the bond market for the national public charter school sector. His underwriting of the Community of Peace Academy is considered one of the first tax-exempt bonds in the country. He is regarded as a national leader in this arena and has presented on the topic to the National Federation of Municipal Analysts, Bond Buyer Seminars as well as several state and local trade associations.
Stuart Ellis, President and CEO, Charter School Capital
Stuart is the Co-founder and CEO of Charter School Capital, the nation’s leading provider of growth capital and facilities financing to charter schools nationwide. The company has provided in excess of $1.2 billion in support of 500+ charter schools educating more than 550,000 students across the country. Stuart has presented around the country on growth strategies for charter schools and facilities options to aid charters in their growth.

Register Here!

The Charter School Capital team sends congratulations to Olive Grove Charter School’s expansion in San Luis Obispo, California. Open since the beginning of the 2016/17 school year, this learning center joins Olive Grove’s five other Southern California locations.
Olive Grove Charter Schools have roughly 300 students enrolled including a mixture of home-schooled and independent study students. The mission of Olive Grove Charter School is to plan, monitor, and assist in the education of students K-12 in a home or blended school learning environment enabling them to speak, read, write, use technology, and calculate effectively to become self-motivated, competent, and life-long learners. The Olive Grove Charter Schools will provide students with the necessary resources to achieve success and meet state standards in core academic subjects appropriate to their level. Additionally, students will become career/college ready upon completion of the program. This will be achieved in a collaborative effort with parents as primary deliverers of the educational program, certificated teachers and the community.
Charter School Capital is excited to work with Olive Grove to meet their expansion goals by utilizing our working capital that aids in charter school financing.
“I have been working with Laura Mudge and her team at Olive Grove for almost a year to make this happen,” explained Donna Kopman, Client Relationship Manager at Charter School Capital. “We are so happy to see all their hard work come to fruition and see the positive outcomes from our charter school financing tools.”
You can read more about Olive Grove Charter Schools’ expansion in a recent article from The Tribune and images below of Olive Grove students.

What’s the latest in digital marketing today for charter schools? How are you using digital marketing to benefit your student engagement and enrollment?
Join us for an informative webinar featuring a high level overview of the digital marketing landscape and what key platforms and programs charter leaders should be paying attention to. We will also talk about what types of programs will help in brand awareness, community engagement and student enrollment.
Register today!

The Charter School Capital team congratulates IDEA Public Schools on winning the 2016 Broad Prize. The Broad Prize for Public Charter Schools is awarded to Charter Management Organization (CMOs) honors the public charter management organization that has demonstrated the best academic outcomes in recent years, particularly for low-income students and students of color.
The award is given out annually at the National Charter School Conference. It includes at $250,000 grant for college-readiness programs at schools run by the winning CMO.
IDEA Public Schools was founded in 2000. The brainchild of Teach for America alumni Tom Torkelson and JoAnn Gama, IDEA now serves 300,000 students at 51 schools across Texas.
Serving predominately low-income and Hispanic students, IDEA schools have delivered amazing results year-after-year. US News & World Report routinely ranks the CMO’s schools among the nation’s top 500. In addition, IDEA’s College Prep high schools rank in the top 1% of America’s Most Challenging Schools, according to The Washington Post. IDEA’s 2016 graduating class has an impressive 100% college acceptance rate.
IDEA’s founding and development was recently chronicled by author Richard Whitmire in his book, The Founders. Whitmire’s book documents the rise and best practices of the country’s most successful CMOs.

With Election Day coming up on it’s a good time to take a look at the legislative landscape in California. Every seat in the California Assembly, along with half of the seats in the State Senate, will be on the ballot on November 8th.
Nine members of the State Senate terming out of office. An additional State Senator has declined to run for reelection. In the State Assembly, there are 15 members terming out, with two more members running for the State Senate.
All in all, there will be at least a dozen new members of the legislature in 2017. Currently, the Democrats control the Senate with 26 seats. The Republicans hold 14 seats, one of them vacant. In the Assembly, the Democrats control 52 seats, while Republicans hold 28.
With these totals, the Democrats are currently just one seat away from a supermajority in the Senate, and two away in the Assembly. Supermajorities in both houses would give the Democrats the ability to override vetoes by the Governor. It would also allow them to place ‘revenue’ measures on the ballot for voter approval.
Currently, the Democrats are targeting two Republican seats in the Senate, and eight in the Assembly. And with inter-party races becoming more common in the wake of California’s transition to the ‘top two primary system, several other seats feature Democrat vs. Democrat battles.
Below is a rundown of some of the important races being decided in November. Prominent locales in each district are listed (in parentheses). Incumbents names are in bold. Percentages listed represent each candidate’s vote share during the June primary. [Bracketed percentages] represent the total of the vote that went to other Democratic primary candidates. Termed-out legislators are listed in italics.

State Senate Races 2016 – Currently 26 D – 13 R – 1 Vacant

Democrat vs. Democrat Races

3rd Senate District (Davis, Fairfield, Martinez, Napa, Sonoma, Vallejo, Vacaville, Woodland) – Bill Dodd (D) 37.4% vs. Mariko Yamada (D) 29.9%; Wolk

9th Senate District (Albany, Alameda, Berkeley, El Ceritto, Emeryville, Hercules, Oakland, Piedmont, Pinole, Richmond, San Pablo, San Leandro) – Nancy Skinner (D) 47.8% vs. Sandre Swanson (D) 30.5%; Hancock

15th Senate District (Campbell, Cupertino, Los Gatos, San Jose, Saratoga) – Jim Beall (D) 49.4% vs. Nora Campos (D) 26.9%

35th Senate District (Carson, Compton, Gardena, Harbor City, Hawthorne, Inglewood, Lawndale, South Los Angeles, San Pedro, Torrance) – Steve Bradford (D) 35.6% vs. Warren Furitani (D) 24.4%; Hall

Republican seats targeted by Democrats

21st Senate District (Apple Valley, Hesperia, Lancaster, Palmdale, Santa Clarita, Victorville) – Scott Wilk (R) 46.7% vs. Johnathon Ervin (D) 33.7%; Runner

29th Senate District (Anaheim, Brea, Buena Park, Chino Hills, Cypress, Diamond Bar, Fullerton, La Habra, La Palma, Placentia, Rowland Heights, Stanton, Walnut, West Corvina, Yorba Linda) – Ling Ling Chang (R) 44% vs. Josh Newman (D) 29.2% [26.8%]; Huff

State Assembly Races 2016 – Currently 52 D – 28 R

Democrat vs. Democrat Races

14th Assembly District (Benicia, Concord Lafayette, Martinez, Pittsburgh, Vallejo, Walnut Creek) – Mae Torlakson (D) 32.3% vs. Tim Grayson (D) 31.6%; Bonilla

27th Assembly District (San Jose) – Madison Nguyen (D) 34.3% vs. Ash Kalra (D) 19.8%; Campos

30th Assembly District (Gilroy, Hollister, Morgan Hills, Salinas, Soledad, Watsonville) – Anna Caballero (D) 46.1% vs. Karina Alejo (D) 26%; Alejo

43rd Assembly District (Burbank, Glendale, La Canada, La Crescenta, Los Angeles) – Laura Friedman (D) 31.9% vs. Ardy Kassakhian (D) 24.3%; Gatto

Republican seats targeted by Democrats

16th Assembly District (Alamo, Danville, Dublin, Lafayette, Livermore, Moraga, Orinda, Pleasanton, San Ramon, Walnut Creek) – Catherine Baker (R) 53.2% vs. Cheryl Cook-Kallio (D) 46.8%

35th Assembly District (Arroyo Grande, Atascadero, Lompoc, Paso Robles, Santa Maria) – Dawn Ortiz-Legg (D) 45% vs. Jordan Cunningham (R) 37%; Achadjihan

36th Assembly District (California City, Lancaster, Mojave, Palmdale, Santa Clarita) – Tom Lackey (R) 48.2% vs. Steve Fox (D) 29.6%

38th Assembly District (Canyon Country, Castaic, Chatsworth, Northridge, Santa Clarita, Simi Valley) – Christie Smith (D) 44.7% vs. Dante Acosta (R) 36.2%; Wilk

40th Assembly District (Highland, Loma Linda, Rancho Cucamonga, Redlands, San Bernadino) – Abigail Medina (D) 51.5% vs. Marc Steinorth (R) 48.5%

60th Assembly District (Corona, Eastvale, Jurupa Valley, Norco, Riverside) – Eric Lander (R) 45.6% vs. Sabrina Cervantes (D) 41.5% [12.9%]

65th Assembly District (Anaheim, Buena Park, Cerritos, Cypress, Fullerton, La Palma) – Sharon Quirk-Silva (D) 54.3% vs. Young Kim (R) 45.7%

66th Assembly District (Gardena, Lomita, Manhattan Beach, Palos Verdes, Redondo Beach, Torrance, West Carson) – Al Muratsuchi (D) 48.7% vs. David Hadley (R) 44.6% [6.7%]

The California State Legislature adjourned on August 31st, giving Governor Jerry Brown until September 30th to sign or veto legislation passed during the 2016 session. Governor Brown waited until September 30th to make his final decision on many of the bills before him, including two bills that would have had serious impacts on California charter schools.
By vetoing these bills, Governor Brown once again demonstrated his support of charter schools, and the unique role they play in the California education system.
AB 709 by Assemblyman Mike Gipson would have applied the Brown Act, Public Records Act, the Political Reform Act, and Government Code 1090 to charter schools.
In an effort to force the Governor to sign this bill, the California Teachers Association launched a website and ran radio ads in support of the bill.
In his veto message, Governor Brown noted that he had vetoes similar legislation in 2014. He also stated that AB 709 went too far in dictating how charter school boards operate.
SB 739 by Senator Fran Pavley would have prohibited school districts with negative certification status from approving an out-of-district charter school petition. In August, the Joint Legislative Audit Committee ordered an audit of three schools and their out-of-district authorizers. Those audits will be complete in early 2017.
In his veto message for SB 739, the Governor stated that California should wait until these audits are completed before determining if action is necessary on this issue.
Once again, the charter school community owes the Governor a huge round of applause!
Two other bills that would have negatively impacted charter schools were defeated in the legislature, and did not reach the Governor’s desk. AB 1084 would have prohibited charter schools from operating as, or be managed by, for-profit entities. SB 322 would have prohibited charter school admissions preferences, and would have applied suspension and expulsion laws to charter schools.
To view the language in any of these bills, or to view the Governor’s veto messages, visit the California State Legislative Information website and search for the bill number.