If there’s one thing I hear consistently from charter school leaders across the country, it’s this: they’re overwhelmed. Between board meetings, parent calls, staffing challenges, and budget pressures, finding time to think strategically feels almost impossible. But here’s what I’ve learned from working with schools in every stage of growth — the ones that thrive are the ones that make time for it anyway.

That’s something I think about every day: how enrollment, facilities, and funding don’t just coexist — they actively fuel each other. Understanding that relationship can change the way you lead your school.

It’s Not “Build It and They Will Come”

There’s a myth in the charter world that if you build or expand your facility, students will follow. In my experience, it’s quite the opposite. Enrollment has to lead. When you grow your enrollment strategically, your revenue increases. When your revenue increases, your affordability for facilities improves. When your facilities improve, your appeal in the community grows. And that drives more enrollment. It’s a cycle — and once you’re in it, it builds on itself.

But you have to start somewhere. And that starting point is almost always enrollment.

What We’re Seeing on the Ground

After returning from the California Charter Schools Association conference in Long Beach, a few themes stood out clearly. Declining enrollment is hitting schools that never built strong wait lists or invested in consistent marketing. When the dip comes — and it always comes eventually — they have nowhere to turn. They’re reacting instead of responding.

The schools I worry about are the ones watching their wait lists shrink year over year and not sounding the alarm early enough. By the time enrollment drops significantly, the financial impact is immediate and the recovery is slow.

Where Are You in the Cycle?

The first step is honest self-assessment. Are you still building enrollment? Then your focus should be on marketing, filling seats, and proving demand. Are you stable with strong cash reserves and a wait list? Then it’s time to start exploring facility options. Are you somewhere in between, weathering some attrition and trying to stabilize? Then efficiency is your priority — getting more out of what you already have before you take on anything new.

No matter where you are, one thing is true: you can never start planning too early. Facilities projects that used to take eighteen months now routinely take two or more years. The time to start thinking about your next move is before you need it.

The growth cycle is real. Once you understand how these three elements feed each other, you’ll never look at your school’s strategy the same way again.

About the Author

As a leading member of the Client Services Team, Ryan finds great purpose in creating new and lasting relationships with schools. Inclusion, building community, and equity are Ryan’s driving principles, which he puts into practice in service to schools daily. He is dedicated to understanding the challenges school leaders face and providing solutions that align with each of their visions.

I hear it constantly from school leaders: “We’re posting regularly on Facebook and Instagram, but we’re not seeing any connection to enrollment. Is social media actually worth our time?”

It’s a fair question. Schools invest hours creating content, managing platforms, and trying to stay current with algorithm changes and new features. When that effort doesn’t translate into obvious enrollment results, it’s natural to wonder if you’re just shouting into the void.

Here’s the truth that might surprise you: social media isn’t supposed to directly drive enrollment. Understanding what it actually does—and doesn’t do—changes everything about how you approach it.

The Social Media Reality: Awareness, Not Conversion

Let me start with something that might sound controversial: no platform is driving qualified leads by itself in 2026.

Facebook used to be the answer. Instagram was the hot new thing. Everyone’s asking about TikTok. The truth? They’re awareness tools, not lead generators.

Anecdotally, yes, sometimes people discover your school on social media, fill out an inquiry form, and eventually enroll. But not in the volume needed to fill your school. Social media helps you get noticed—it gets you on families’ radar and keeps you there. But your website, your tours, the actual experience families have when they visit your school—those are what convert interest into enrollment.

Think about it this way: paid advertising gets you in front of new families (discovery), and organic content builds trust with those families once they find you (credibility). Both matter, but neither completes the enrollment journey alone.

Who’s Actually Following You (And Why That Matters)

Here’s another reality check: most of your social media followers are already part of your school community. They’re current families, staff, alumni, and local community members who already know you.

This isn’t a problem—it’s an opportunity. Your social media serves a critical retention and advocacy function. When you consistently post content that reminds families why they chose your school, celebrates your community, and reinforces that sense of belonging, you’re building retention and turning enrolled families into ambassadors.

Happy families tell their friends. They share your posts. They recommend you when neighbors ask about schools. This organic advocacy builds a stronger enrollment pipeline than any paid campaign could create alone.

But here’s the key: this only works if you’re actually posting content worth sharing—content that makes families feel proud to be part of your community.

Paid vs. Organic: Why You Need Both

Schools often ask whether they should focus on organic content or paid advertising. The answer is both, because they serve different purposes.

Organic Content: Building Credibility Organic content is what shows up on your feed when someone looks at your page. It also appears in followers’ feeds and can be shared by people who engage with it.

When prospective families hear about your school—maybe from a neighbor or a Google search—they’re going to check out your social media. If they see nothing recent, or if your page looks inactive, they’ll wonder if your school is struggling. If they see regular posts showing field trips, classroom activities, community events, and engaged families, they’ll see evidence that you’re a thriving, active school.

Organic content builds trust and credibility. It shows you’re real, active, and invested in your community.

Paid Advertising: Reaching New Families

But organic content alone won’t help people discover you. That’s where paid advertising comes in.

Paid ads—which don’t have to be expensive—allow you to reach people who don’t know you exist yet. You can target specific geographic areas, demographics, and interests to get in front of families actively looking for schools or who match your ideal family profile.

Even modest budgets ($5-10 per day to boost posts, or $50-100 per month for more sophisticated campaigns) can dramatically extend your reach beyond your current follower base.

The key is understanding that paid ads drive discovery while organic content builds credibility once families find you. You need both working together.

The Underutilized Power of Community Partnerships

One of the most effective social media strategies schools overlook is leveraging community partnerships.

You probably already partner with local organizations—libraries, rec centers, youth sports leagues, Boys & Girls Clubs, cultural organizations. When you post about these partnerships, tag those organizations. When you highlight a student athlete, tag their team.

Why does this matter? Because their audiences become your audiences. When you tag a partner organization and they share your content, you reach families in their networks who might never have discovered your school otherwise.

This strategy costs nothing but attention and intention. Yet it can exponentially extend your reach beyond your current follower base.

Social Media as Strategic Awareness

Social media isn’t about going viral or racking up followers. It’s about strategic awareness that feeds your enrollment funnel while building community with current families who become your best advocates.

When you understand that social media creates awareness (not direct conversion), balance community-building with enrollment calls-to-action, and track metrics that actually connect to enrollment outcomes, these platforms stop feeling like time sinks and start supporting your actual goals.

About the Author

Ashley MacQuarrie is VP of Marketing at Grow Schools, where she leads the enrollment marketing team helping charter schools achieve sustainable growth.

Schools planning expansion face countless strategic decisions—where to add capacity, how to staff new programs, when to open additional campuses. But one critical element often gets overlooked until problems emerge: compensation strategy.

When compensation planning lags behind growth, schools encounter predictable challenges. Uneven salaries across campuses create resentment. Unclear pathways for advancement leave talented educators wondering about their futures. Critical leaders leave during growth phases—exactly when you need them most.

Having worked with numerous schools navigating expansion, I’ve observed that the schools achieving the most sustainable growth are those that think strategically about compensation from the beginning. They build pay systems designed to evolve alongside their expansion rather than systems that quickly become obsolete.

How Schools Outgrow Their Compensation Systems

Growth exposes the limitations of compensation structures that worked fine at smaller scale. This happens in several predictable ways.

New Roles Without Homes

As you expand and add schools or programs, you create roles that didn’t exist before—perhaps a managing director position or a multi-campus coordinator. Suddenly you need job levels you’ve never had, and you need to determine what these roles are worth in the market to set appropriate pay. Without a structure that accommodates these roles, schools make ad-hoc decisions that create inconsistency and confusion about how compensation works.

Unclear Role Placement

Even when you’re not creating entirely new positions, expansion often means adding roles you’re unsure how to place within your existing structure. Is this new position at the coordinator level or the manager level? What’s the market value? How does it compare to similar roles already in your organization? Without clear frameworks, these decisions become subjective and vulnerable to the influence of whoever negotiates most effectively rather than what’s fair and sustainable.

Unrecognized Additional Duties

Growth typically means existing staff take on expanded responsibilities—leading cross-campus initiatives, mentoring new hires, coordinating expanded programs. How do you recognize and reward these contributions? Without thoughtful stipend structures or role progression frameworks, schools either under-compensate people taking on critical growth work, or they create inconsistent recognition that feels arbitrary to staff.

The challenge isn’t that these situations arise—they’re natural consequences of growth. The problem is when schools address them reactively rather than proactively, creating compensation decisions that feel rushed, inconsistent, and disconnected from any coherent strategy.

Building for Your Future Self

The most important principle in growth-ready compensation planning is this: build systems that meet your future self, not just your current reality.

If you’re planning to grow from $8 million in revenue with 80 staff to $20 million with 160 staff over three years, you need a compensation program designed for that future organization, not your current size.

Why Future-Focused Planning Matters

When schools build compensation systems only for their current state, they quickly outgrow those structures. This forces reactive decision-making—creating exceptions, making rushed adjustments, implementing inconsistent solutions. These reactive decisions erode staff trust. When people see exceptions being made without clear rationale, when compensation decisions feel arbitrary or rushed, they lose confidence in the system and in leadership.

Market Parameters Shift With Growth

One critical aspect many schools overlook: market parameters change as you grow. Your size, budget, and scope all influence what roles are worth in the market—particularly for leadership positions.

Frontline teacher salaries don’t typically shift dramatically when a school network grows. But executive salaries do. An executive director leading a single 400-student school and an executive director leading a three-campus, 1,200-student network operate at different scopes and should be compensated accordingly.

The last thing you want is critical leaders leaving during a growth phase because their compensation didn’t evolve alongside their expanding responsibilities and the organization’s growth. Planning ahead—looking at what comparable organizations at your projected future size pay their executives—positions you to retain your leadership team throughout expansion.

Balancing Three Critical Levers

Sustainable compensation strategy during growth requires balancing three levers: market competitiveness, internal equity, and financial sustainability.

The Tension Between Levers

These three elements exist in tension. Pushing hard on one lever shifts where others must fall: being highly market competitive might strain financial sustainability; prioritizing financial sustainability might compromise market competitiveness; bringing in new staff at market rates might create internal equity issues with current staff.

The goal isn’t perfection on all three—it’s finding the right balance for your specific organization and being intentional about trade-offs.

Market Competitiveness

Research where pay sits in the market to understand what being competitive actually means. This involves identifying benchmark organizations (similar size, sector, location) and comparing your compensation for equivalent roles. Pay particular attention to growth-critical positions and areas where talent is hardest to find. You may need to be more competitive in some areas than others based on strategic priorities.

Internal Equity

One of the most painful and trust-eroding situations schools face during growth: “New folks are coming in and they’re paid more than I am, and I’ve been here longer.”

This scenario plays out repeatedly when schools focus exclusively on market competitiveness without attending to internal relationships. You bring in new staff at current market rates, but your experienced, long-tenured educators were hired years ago at lower rates and haven’t received increases that keep pace. The result: less experienced new hires earn more than your most valuable, experienced staff. This destroys trust and drives attrition of exactly the people you most need during expansion.

Internal equity requires regularly auditing how people in similar roles with similar experience are compensated across your organization, then addressing gaps systematically.

Financial Sustainability

Even the best compensation strategy fails if it’s not financially sustainable. You must be realistic about what your budget can support not just this year, but as you grow into your projected future state.

This is where hard trade-offs often emerge. You may need to be at or above market for growth-critical roles while staying closer to market in areas where hiring is easier. You might use targeted stipends for high-need positions rather than across-the-board salary increases. The key is making these trade-offs intentionally, communicating them clearly, and ensuring they align with your stated compensation philosophy.

Growth as Opportunity

School growth creates genuine opportunities to invest strategically in your people. When you build compensation systems grounded in clear philosophy, anchored to competitive market rates, and designed for fairness across all roles, you can attract needed talent while rewarding educators already doing incredible work.

Strategic compensation during growth isn’t about cutting costs—it’s about investing wisely so everyone is paid what they’re worth, trust in leadership is maintained, and your most valuable asset (your people) stays engaged and committed through the expansion journey.

About the Author

Jennifer Svendsen, PhD, is a Partner at Edgility, bringing over nine years of experience in consulting and human resources. With a background in cancer research, she leverages her research and analytical skills to deliver best-in-class talent equity practices for her clients.

In her role at Edgility, Jennifer is dedicated to cultivating meaningful client relationships and driving research and development of first-rate compensation and talent programs. She engages with her clients through a collaborative and empathetic approach, ensuring their unique needs are met with tailored, data-driven solutions.

Reach out to her at jsvendsen@edgilitytalent.com

In our recent live event, The School Success Trifecta: Money, Kids & Facilities, we brought together facility experts, enrollment strategists, financial management professionals, and a school leader to reveal how orchestrating all three areas together creates sustainable growth momentum.

The Trifecta Approach

When you address enrollment without considering facility capacity, or pursue facility expansion without enrollment projections to support it, you create what one panelist called “playing whack-a-mole with your school’s challenges.”

Creating synergy across funding, enrollment, and facilities triggers what we call the Growth Momentum Cycle:

Strategic enrollment growth → Increased revenue → Enhanced facilities → Stronger school appeal → More enrollment interest → Greater resources → Expanded facilities → Continued growth

Each element reinforces the others, building unstoppable momentum instead of piecemeal progress.

Building Your Financial Foundation

Kristin Nowak, Executive Vice President of Strategic Management at CSMC, walked through the key metrics school leaders should monitor to understand their financial health.

When schools enter a growth or expansion phase, Kristin recommended focusing budget considerations on:

Ensuring adequate cashflow to weather the transition period
Investing in enrollment marketing to attract new families
Implementing retention practices to maintain current enrollment
Understanding facility project scope for accurate planning
Scaling staffing appropriately to meet enrollment realities
Partnering with authorizers to keep them informed but not involved

The Forward-Thinking Enrollment Framework

Ashley MacQuarrie, VP of Marketing at Grow Schools, introduced a four-step framework that helps schools plan enrollment strategically rather than reactively:

1. Understand Your Full Capacity Potential

Don’t just count current seats—understand your maximum capacity across all grade levels and how that aligns with your charter authorization.

2. Recognize Your Retention Patterns

Calculate your actual attrition rate by grade level. Many schools are surprised to discover patterns they hadn’t noticed.

3. Project Forward 3 Years with Confidence

Use your retention data to create realistic multi-year enrollment projections that account for natural attrition and graduation patterns.

4. Plan Recruitment Strategically

With accurate projections, you can plan recruitment investments proportionally—knowing exactly how many students you need to recruit in each grade level to hit your goals.

“Schools often tell us they need to ‘grow enrollment,’ but when we dig in, we discover they actually need to recruit 60+ students just to stay flat,” Ashley noted. “Understanding your replacement needs versus your growth goals completely changes your recruitment strategy.”

Strategic Facility Planning: Timing Your Moves

Ryan Eldridge, Associate Vice President of New Business at Grow Schools, shared a decision framework for determining whether schools should expand, optimize, or wait on facility investments.

Four Critical Questions:

Question 1: What’s your enrollment trajectory?

Growing with waitlist → Explore expansion timing
Stabilizing → Optimize current space while building capacity

Question 2: How do your facilities support your mission?

Facilities limiting potential → Evaluate strategic options
Facilities support current needs → Optimize and maintain

Question 3: Does the investment align with your financial strength?

Strong cash reserves → Consider terms and ensure payback period aligns with strategic plan
Insufficient cash reserves → Consider financing options and ensure fiscal viability during repayment

Question 4: Can you sustain growth in new space?

Strong enrollment projections → Move forward confidently
Building enrollment → Strengthen recruitment first

“The biggest mistake we see is schools pursuing facility expansion without confirming they can fill the new space,” Ryan explained. “Your facility decisions must be grounded in realistic enrollment projections and financial capacity.”

Real-World Application: Sacramento Valley Charter School

Dr. Vendetta Dozier-Brown, Chief Business Official/Principal at Sacramento Valley Charter School, shared her school’s journey through strategic integration.

Her school faced a common challenge: strong demand but limited facility capacity. Rather than jumping immediately into expansion, they took a strategic approach:

Strengthened their financial position through careful budget management and partnership with CSMC for financial oversight
Built enrollment strategically using targeted marketing that filled their waitlist
Timed facility investment when both finances and enrollment projections supported expansion

Want to dive deeper? Watch the full webinar here.

Ready to explore how Grow Schools can support your strategic growth? Contact us at hello@growschools.com

CCSA 2026 brought together 3,000 charter school leaders—up from 2,300 last year—and the energy in the convention center felt noticeably different. More optimistic. More forward-looking. After a challenging year, California charter leaders showed up ready to tackle what’s next.

We hosted four packed sessions and spent three days at our booth having real conversations about the challenges schools are facing right now. Here’s what we heard.

The Big Themes: What’s Keeping School Leaders Up at Night

1. Enrollment is as competitive as ever

The conversation has evolved. School leaders aren’t just asking “how do we get more students?”—they’re asking “how do we fill seats and keep students once they’re here?”

In our Homepage Hero workshop, leaders worked on their actual websites in real-time, rewriting headlines and calls-to-action to better connect with families. The energy in Seaside-4 was incredible—laptops open, people collaborating, real work getting done.

Ashley MacQuarrie’s Stop Posting into the Void session struck a nerve. School leaders are creating content, but families aren’t engaging. Parents aren’t enrolling. The 30-minute session packed in practical strategies: which platforms actually matter, how to tell your school’s story authentically, and realistic posting plans that won’t consume your entire week.

2. Facilities are a strategic asset, not just a building

Our Space to Thrive session with architect Danish Kurani showed how thoughtful facility design directly impacts learning outcomes and enrollment appeal. Schools are thinking bigger—not just about securing a building, but about creating spaces that families love and students can’t wait to explore.

3. The trifecta

Funding. Enrollment. Facilities. School leaders are tired of treating these as separate problems. Our School Success Trifecta workshop drew leaders who are ready to see how these three elements work together to create momentum.

Dr. Vendetta Dozier-Brown from Sacramento Valley Charter School shared her school’s journey, showing what strategic integration actually looks like in practice. The roadmap planning activity at the end had participants mapping out 36-month strategies.

What’s Next

The work doesn’t stop when the conference ends. We’re following up with every school leader we connected with, continuing conversations, and offering support where we can help. Whether that’s a consultation on facility options, guidance on enrollment strategy, or help navigating funding opportunities—we’re here for it.

To the 3,000 charter leaders who showed up in Long Beach: thank you for the conversations, the questions, and the energy you brought. Your commitment to building thriving schools inspires everything we do.

Can’t wait to see what you build next!

Want to continue the conversation? Whether you attended CCSA or not, we’d love to talk about your school’s goals. Schedule a consultation or reach out directly.

Lease obligations typically represent one of the largest line items in school budgets, yet I consistently see school leaders treating lease renewals as annual crises rather than strategic ongoing responsibilities. The schools experiencing the most financial stability and favorable lease terms share one critical characteristic: they start preparing early and approach negotiations strategically.

As schools enter budgeting season, understanding how to prepare for lease obligations, approach landlord conversations effectively, and recognize warning signs of unsustainable costs becomes essential for maintaining financial health while securing the facility terms you need.

Preparation: The Foundation of Successful Lease Management

Understanding Your Complete Obligations

Get a firm grip on every lease term and obligation. Know exactly what you’re responsible for and what the landlord is supposed to handle. This clarity prevents budget surprises and provides leverage during negotiations.

Too many schools overlook pass-through expenses like CAM charges, taxes, and insurance—often the areas where budgets take the biggest hits. Dig into your operating expense history to understand patterns and identify opportunities for negotiation or optimization.

Space Utilization Assessment

Before assuming you need more space or different terms, evaluate whether you’re maximizing your current facility. Multi-purpose rooms, combined uses, and flexible scheduling can stretch your footprint without adding costs.

Track enrollment closely and push harder on marketing if numbers dip. Your space requirements and budget fundamentally depend on enrollment stability.

Long-Term Maintenance Planning

Major repairs like roof replacements, HVAC systems, or facility painting can wreck budgets when they hit unexpectedly. Figure out whether these are your responsibility or your landlord’s. If they’re yours, start planning years ahead to spread costs and avoid financial shocks.

Critical Date Tracking

Stay on top of notice periods, escalation triggers, CPI adjustments, and renewal deadlines in your lease. Don’t allow these to sneak up on you. Missing critical dates can cost negotiating leverage or force rushed decisions under pressure.

Lease Renewal Considerations

Building Condition Evaluation

If your landlord is asking for higher rates but hasn’t invested in building improvements, that’s an opening to negotiate capital items. Playground upgrades, HVAC assistance, or other facility improvements can offset rate increases while enhancing your educational environment.

Automatic Renewal Clauses

Pay attention to whether your lease automatically renews and what notice periods apply. Be transparent with landlords about your needs and affordability. Clear communication early creates better negotiation foundations than last-minute demands.

Beyond Base Rent

Don’t focus exclusively on rent—it’s only one piece of your total facility cost. Other valuable negotiation levers include:

Term length
Renewal clarity and options
Caps on operating expense increases
Early termination provisions
Rent-free periods

These elements can be just as valuable as reducing base rent, and sometimes landlords have more flexibility on these terms than on headline rental rates.

Moving Forward Proactively

Time Is Your Biggest Asset

Start lease renewal discussions 18-24 months ahead of expiration. This timeline prevents both parties from getting backed into corners where limited options force suboptimal decisions.

Early conversations allow time to:

Research market rates without scrambling for comparisons
Honestly assess budget position, space needs, and enrollment trends
Explore multiple scenarios and alternatives
Build landlord relationships that facilitate better terms
Identify and address potential issues before they become crises

Successful lease management requires treating facility costs as strategic ongoing responsibilities rather than annual crises. Schools that prepare early, negotiate comprehensively, monitor warning signs, and maintain positive landlord relationships consistently achieve better outcomes than those approaching renewals reactively.

Remember: it’s never too early to start preparing for lease renewals, but it can definitely be too late. Whether your renewal is next month or two years away, start implementing these practices now to protect your budget and secure the facility terms your school needs.

About the Author

Mary Dillon is Associate Director of Real Estate Management at Grow Schools, where she helps schools navigate lease negotiations and facility management to achieve sustainable financial stability.

How far in advance should we start planning our facility project? This question comes up in nearly every conversation I have with school leaders planning renovations, expansions, or new construction. The answer I give often surprises them: ideally, you should have started a year ago.

School construction projects involve more complexity, longer lead times, and more potential delays than most educational leaders anticipate. Understanding realistic timelines and planning accordingly makes the difference between projects that complete on schedule and those that disrupt school operations or miss critical opening deadlines.

Realistic Timeline Expectations by Project Type

The most important factor affecting your construction timeline is project scope. A realistic overall timeline for school projects ranges from one year minimum to three-plus years, but let’s break that down by phase and project type.

Design Phase: 3-12 Months

Design timelines vary dramatically based on project complexity:

Small renovations touching minimal rooms: 1-3 months
Moderate renovations of full buildings (20,000 sq ft): 8-12 months
Large campus projects or new construction: 12-18+ months

The larger and more complex your project, the more time you need for planning and design. This phase includes not just creating drawings, but stakeholder engagement, program development, budget refinement, and multiple design iterations.

Permitting Phase: 1-24+ Months Permitting represents the biggest wild card in construction timelines. I’ve secured permits in as little as one week in jurisdictions with streamlined processes and strong architectural submissions. I’ve also navigated permitting processes that took two years due to environmental reviews and entitlement requirements.

General guidelines:

Simple projects in efficient jurisdictions: 1-2 months
Standard projects in typical jurisdictions: 2-4 months
Complex projects or challenging jurisdictions: 6-12 months
Projects requiring environmental review (CEQA in California, ULURP in New York, for example): 12-18+ months

Your architect’s familiarity with local requirements significantly impacts this timeline.

Construction Phase: 2-36 Months

Actual construction timelines depend on project scope:

Small remodels (classrooms, offices): 2-6 months
Full floor renovations: 6-12 months
Complete school renovations with multiple buildings: 12-36 months
New construction: 12-24+ months depending on size

These timelines assume continuous work without major interruptions. Projects requiring phased construction around school operations take significantly longer.

The Common Delays Schools Should Anticipate

While every project is unique, certain delay factors appear consistently across school construction projects. Understanding these allows for more realistic planning and appropriate contingency.

Academic Calendar Constraints Unlike other construction projects that can proceed year-round (depending on geography), school projects often face work windows restricted to summer breaks or winter holidays. This limitation extends timelines significantly.

If your project requires 8 months of construction but you can only work during 3-month summer windows, you’re looking at multiple years of phased work. This constraint alone often adds 6-12 months to project timelines.

Material Lead Times

Long lead times for essential equipment can delay projects even when all other elements are ready. Critical items include:

HVAC equipment: 6-8 months (sometimes longer for specialized systems)
Electrical switchgear: 8-12 months
Windows and curtain wall systems: 4-6 months
Specialized laboratory or kitchen equipment: 3-6 months

A two-month renovation project requiring new HVAC equipment with an eight-month lead time creates obvious timeline challenges. Early identification and procurement of long-lead items is critical.

Permitting Delays and Resubmissions

The permitting process rarely proceeds smoothly on first submission. Plan reviewers identify issues requiring design revisions, code interpretations differ from expectations, and new requirements emerge during review.

I’ve worked on projects requiring six rounds of resubmission before permit approval. Each round adds 2-4 weeks minimum to your timeline. Factors contributing to multiple resubmissions include:

Incomplete or unclear drawings
Design elements not meeting current code requirements
Insufficient structural, mechanical, or electrical detail
Missing information required by the jurisdiction

Hidden Conditions in Renovation Projects

Renovation projects involve unknowns you can’t discover until construction begins. Behind walls and under floors lie surprises that can significantly impact timelines:

Asbestos or other hazardous materials requiring abatement
Outdated or damaged wiring and plumbing
Structural issues not visible during initial assessment
Water damage or mold
Inadequate foundation or structural support

These discoveries require work stoppages, redesign, additional permitting, and specialized remediation—all adding time and cost to projects.

Labor Availability During Peak Seasons

Summer represents peak construction season, creating competition for skilled labor. Schools planning summer-only construction windows face this challenge annually.

Without early contractor engagement and scheduling, you may discover that subcontractors are committed to other projects during your preferred work window. This can delay project start by months or force acceptance of less experienced contractors.

Stakeholder Decision-Making

Slow or changing decisions from school leadership, boards, or other stakeholders consistently delay projects. Design changes late in the process require returning to earlier phases, affecting timelines exponentially.

A classroom layout change during construction doesn’t just affect that classroom—it impacts electrical, HVAC, finishes, furniture procurement, and potentially structural elements. What seems like a small change can add weeks or months to completion.

Poor Team Coordination

When architects, contractors, consultants, school administrators, and other stakeholders don’t communicate effectively or make decisions promptly, projects stall. Clear decision-making authority, regular communication schedules, and defined approval processes are essential.

When to Engage Professional Teams

The single most important timeline decision is when to bring professional expertise onto your project. My answer is always: as early as possible—the moment your school identifies a facility need.

The Six-Month Engagement Reality

Many school leaders don’t realize that simply finding and engaging your professional team can consume six months. A competitive bid process for architect selection involves:

Developing request for proposals (RFP)
Advertising and receiving responses
Reviewing submissions and checking references
Conducting interviews
Board approval of selection
Contract negotiation and execution

This process protects your interests by ensuring you select qualified professionals, but it takes time. Starting this process when you need construction completed in six months guarantees project failure.

The Value of Early Engagement

Bringing architects and consultants on board early provides multiple benefits:

Realistic timeline development based on your specific project
Accurate budget estimates that prevent mid-project surprises
Early identification of permitting challenges or requirements
Time for thorough stakeholder engagement and program development
Opportunity for value engineering to optimize budget allocation

Early engagement costs relatively little compared to the expensive problems it prevents.

Planning for Success

The most successful school construction projects share common characteristics:

Early professional team engagement
Realistic timeline expectations with appropriate contingencies
Strong design development before permitting
Clear stakeholder decision-making processes
Adequate budget for unknown conditions
Flexibility to adapt when challenges emerge

The least successful projects typically result from compressed timelines, late team engagement, and optimistic assumptions about how quickly things will proceed.

When school leaders ask “How far in advance should we start planning?” my honest answer remains: ideally, a year ago. But the second-best time to start is today—the moment you identify a facility need.

Construction timelines for school projects are longer and more complex than most educational leaders anticipate. Understanding these realities and planning accordingly protects your school from missed deadlines, budget overruns, and operational disruptions that affect students and staff.

About the Author

Michael Soh helps schools expand and improve their facilities. Along with a degree from USC in Civil Engineering, Michael has nearly a decade of experience—having managed projects in New York City, Boston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. He has expertise in mixed-use, multifamily, office, and commercial projects, allowing him to support schools through ground-up construction, building and space improvements, and redevelopment initiatives.

The Timing the Market: What’s in Store for School Facilities in 2026 event brought together real estate experts, construction specialists, and school leaders who shared invaluable insights on navigating today’s complex facility landscape.

Market Conditions and Strategic Timing – Ryan Eldridge

Ryan Eldridge, Associate VP of New Business at Grow Schools, opened the discussion by painting a realistic picture of today’s facility landscape. Drawing from his 13 years of experience working with charter schools across the country, Ryan identified several critical challenges schools currently face:

Finding affordable, available space remains the biggest hurdle for charter schools. The inventory exists, but navigating permitting, zoning rights, and the ability to use commercial spaces as schools continues to complicate the process. Ryan emphasized that without ownership or long-term lease agreements (20-40 years), schools struggle to maintain control over their futures and justify significant facility investments.

Rising construction costs, driven by post-COVID supply chain issues and current economic policies including tariffs, have compounded these challenges. Combined with market volatility and frequent administrative changes, many schools find themselves in a state of decision paralysis.

Despite these obstacles, Ryan’s message was clear: “It’s always go time.” Schools shouldn’t let market uncertainty prevent them from planning ahead. Renovation projects typically require 12-18 months minimum, while ground-up construction demands at least 2-2.5 years. Starting early and maintaining momentum on facility projects is essential, regardless of market conditions.

When to Buy, Renovate, or Wait – Mary Dillon

Mary Dillon, Associate Director of Real Estate Management, provided a strategic framework for schools wrestling with facility timing decisions. Her nine years of real estate-focused work at Grow Schools has given her deep insight into when schools should act versus when they should exercise patience.

Mary emphasized that facility moves should follow enrollment and financial strength, not lead them. The key indicators of readiness include healthy balance sheets, stable multi-year enrollment (not just one strong year), and debt capacity that won’t crowd out academic investments.

For schools considering ownership, Mary recommended that facility costs remain between 10-20% of annual revenue, with a coverage ratio of at least 1.2 (meaning net income exceeds facility obligations by 20%). She also suggested that revenue should be five to six times higher than rent, bond, or lease costs.

Regarding enrollment, Mary stressed looking beyond total headcount to examine waitlist consistency over multiple years, retention rates of 80-90% across grade transitions, and clear trajectory patterns. She recommended planning around 80% of target average daily attendance to provide a buffer against fluctuation.

For renovation timing, Mary advised that schools should renovate when their location is strong but the space isn’t fully optimized, when enrollment growth is real but not yet large enough to justify ownership, or when targeted improvements are needed rather than full relocation. The smartest renovations solve problems without creating new financial strain.

Importantly, Mary validated waiting as a legitimate strategy when enrollment is declining, leadership is in transition, or financial reporting isn’t yet reliable. She encouraged schools to use waiting periods productively by strengthening financial systems, building enrollment pipelines, and conducting facility audits.

Construction Reality Check – Michael Soh

Michael Soh, Director of Construction and Development, brought the on-the-ground perspective about what schools should actually expect when executing facility projects in 2026.

Michael outlined various facility improvement categories schools typically encounter: emergency repairs (immediate issues like failing HVAC or roof leaks), routine maintenance (proactive scheduled upkeep), targeted repairs (planned replacements within 3 years), and capital improvements (major long-term strategic projects).

He highlighted several construction market dynamics affecting charter schools in 2026:

Interest Rates and Financing: Borrowing costs remain elevated compared to pre-pandemic norms, affecting project affordability and requiring larger contingencies.

Tariffs and Material Costs: Steel and aluminum prices are increasing due to trade policy and global supply shifts, potentially pushing projects over budget mid-design.

The Data Center Boom: This unexpected factor is significantly impacting charter school projects in markets like Northern Virginia, Texas (Dallas, Austin, Houston), Atlanta, Phoenix, and Chicago. Data centers are pulling skilled labor toward their projects through premium wages, making it harder for schools to secure competitive bids and adequate subcontractors.

Michael recommended starting with 10-20% contingency budgets (higher than historical norms), involving general contractors early in the process, planning for longer procurement and inspection timelines, and considering phased implementation strategies. He also emphasized the importance of choosing the right architect and contractor partners who have strong experience in educational settings and local markets.

Real-World Experience – Rob Shields

Perhaps the most compelling testimony came from Rob Shields, Interim Co-Director of the School of Arts and Enterprise in California. Rob’s journey from part-time theater teacher to school leader over nine years gave him a unique perspective on facility challenges.

His school faced a perfect storm: post-COVID enrollment decline (dropping from 780 students to 615 in three years), the expiration of one-time funds, and aging “found space” facilities (including a former bank and boat repair facility) that required constant maintenance. With a $14 million operational budget, losing 150 students created an urgent need for financial restructuring.

The School of Arts and Enterprise explored multiple options, including leveraging their owned properties for cash infusion. Traditional banks weren’t willing to work with them in ways that would ensure long-term success. Their partnership with Grow Schools provided both immediate cash flow relief and a long-term facility solution.

Rob’s advice to other school leaders was refreshingly honest: “Transparency is the best possible outcome you could have.” He emphasized that keeping challenges close to the chest turns them into individual problems rather than organizational challenges to be solved. Being open about needs, hopes, fears, and concerns leads to honest solutions and maintains integrity.

The entire transaction—from initial contact over the Christmas holidays to completed facility restructuring—took just one calendar year, demonstrating that the right partnership can move quickly when schools need it most.

Key Takeaways

Several themes emerged consistently throughout the webinar:

Start Planning Early: Whether renovating or building new, projects take longer than expected. The time to start is always now if a facility decision is inevitable in your future.

Follow the Numbers: Facility decisions should be driven by financial strength and enrollment reality, not aspirational hopes. Be brutally honest about your school’s position.

Build the Right Team: Success depends on experienced architects, contractors, and financial partners who understand charter school operations and local markets.

Consider All Options: Ownership isn’t always the answer. Long-term lease arrangements or lease-to-own structures can provide stability without the burden of property debt.

Use Waiting Time Wisely: If now isn’t the right time, strengthen your position by improving financial systems, building enrollment pipelines, and planning thoroughly.

Stay Transparent: Open communication with partners, boards, and advisors leads to better solutions and reduces the isolation school leaders often feel.

The facility decisions charter schools make today will shape their ability to serve students for decades to come. While market conditions in 2026 present genuine challenges, the experts at this webinar made clear that strategic, informed decision-making can help schools navigate uncertainty successfully.

Every January, school leaders face the same challenge: figuring out what their marketing should look like for the year ahead. You don’t need huge budgets or complicated plans to see results. You need clarity on your message, data on what’s working, and focus on the channels that matter most to your families.

As we enter 2026, let’s break down a strategic approach that actually works for schools.

Start with Your Foundation: Lock in Your Messaging

Before you post a single social media update or design a flyer, answer this fundamental question: Why should families choose your school?

If you can’t articulate this clearly in one or two sentences, your marketing team, recruiters, and community partners will struggle to communicate it too. Unclear messaging creates confusion, and confused families don’t enroll.

The Messaging Framework Take time now—early in the year when things are typically a bit calmer—to nail down:

Your key stories that demonstrate your school’s impact
The language that makes your school distinct and memorable
Your school’s voice and how it should sound across all communications
The specific outcomes and experiences that differentiate you from other options

Once this framework is established, everything else flows from it. Your social media content, paid ads, print materials, event messaging, and recruiter talking points all stem from this core messaging foundation.

The Test Ask several people at your school—administrators, teachers, board members, parents—to explain in one sentence why families should choose your school. If you get wildly different answers, your messaging needs work. If everyone says roughly the same thing in their own words, you’ve got alignment.

Evaluate 2025: Let Data Drive Your 2026 Strategy

The schools that waste the least money on marketing are those that actually track what’s working. Yet many schools plan their marketing based on assumptions, what they think should work, or what they’ve always done, rather than what their data shows is actually bringing families through the door.

The Simplest Data Collection Method

Add one question to your enrollment form or application: “How did you first hear about our school?” Provide multiple choice options:

Personal referral from friend/family
Facebook or social media
Saw your building/signage
Google search
Community event
Local news/media
Other (please specify)

This single question, asked consistently, provides invaluable intelligence about which marketing channels actually drive enrollment.

Survey Current Families

If you don’t have this data from 2025, send a quick survey to families who enrolled this year. Keep it simple—you’ll get better response rates with 3-5 questions than with lengthy surveys.

Track Inquiry Patterns

Even if you’re using a basic spreadsheet rather than a fancy CRM, you should be able to see when families reached out throughout the year. Map these inquiry spikes against your activities:

Did inquiries jump after your fall open house?
Were you running a Facebook campaign when you saw increased interest?
Did a local news feature correlate with more tour requests?

These patterns reveal which activities generate actual interest versus which just feel busy.

Plan for Better Tracking in 2027 Do your future self a favor: implement Google Analytics on your website if you haven’t already, ensure those enrollment form questions are in place, and create simple tracking systems now so you’re not flying blind next year.

Content Planning: Structure With Flexibility

Schools often ask whether they should plan all content in advance or stay completely flexible. The answer is both—you need structure around key dates while leaving room for timely, authentic content.

Lock in Your Key Dates Start by identifying non-negotiables:

Enrollment deadlines and lottery dates
First day of school
Cornerstone annual events
Application windows opening/closing
Important school milestones

Map to Family Decision Timelines Think about when families research and make decisions in your community:

When do families typically start looking for schools?
When do enrollment decisions happen (early spring, summer, ongoing)?
When might families consider switching schools mid-year?

Build content themes around these decision windows rather than just posting randomly throughout the year.

Leave Room for Authenticity Don’t schedule every single post months in advance. Leave space for:

Student achievements and wins
New staff introductions
Unexpected positive moments
Community events and responses
Timely educational content

Over-scheduling makes your content feel stiff and disconnected from what’s actually happening at your school. Families can tell when posts feel prescribed versus genuine.

Marketing in 2026-2027 and Beyond

The schools that see the best marketing results in 2026 will be those that start the year with clarity: clear messaging, data-informed strategy, focused channel selection, and commitment to authentic storytelling.

You don’t need huge budgets. You don’t need a large team. You need clarity on what makes your school special, data on where your families come from, and discipline to focus resources on what actually works.

Take a few hours this month to establish that foundation. Your future self—and your enrollment numbers—will thank you.

Marketing your school for enrollment can feel like one more side dish added to an already heaping plate of responsibilities and goals. However, when it comes to creating a strategic marketing approach, it is possible to take a smaller serving and still reach your goal of more students in seats. Here are some tried and true marketing strategies that will attract new families and retain your existing students, along with a few things you can take off your plate.

Show Up Consistently & Authentically

Successful marketing isn’t about chasing viral moments or being on every platform. It’s about showing up consistently on your website and chosen channels with authentic glimpses into life at your school.

Your goal is to share what makes your school special by posting 2-3 times per week on Instagram and Facebook. Unsure what to post? Start with small moments, interviews, student achievements and highlights from school events. If you are a high school, your students can be some of your best social media ambassadors – try a Tuesday Takeover (with teacher approval, of course) and let students contribute to your content calendar for the year.

This consistency will build trust with your audience and show prospective families that you’re well-established in your community.

Align Your Content With the Enrollment Cycle

A little bit of planning can make posting to social media easier and ensure you are prepared for key enrollment events. One of the best ways to do this is to align your school’s enrollment cycle with your content calendar. Here’s what I’ve found to be a typical enrollment cycle and what you should be posting during these critical times:

October-December: School is in full swing, holidays are busy and families generally aren’t planning for next year yet. This is an ideal time to build brand awareness on social media. Post to your social media channels a couple times a week, sharing what makes your school special and celebrating the everyday moments that define your community.

January-March: Active recruitment season. Your ads are likely running during this time, open enrollment might be launching, or you’re preparing for an enrollment lottery. Your content should serve as a consistent reminder that now is the time to enroll. Make information about how to apply crystal clear and easy to find.

April-June: Applications are still rolling in. Families are realizing the school year is winding down and starting to think seriously about next year. You want to be top of mind as they ask themselves, “Where is my child attending in the fall?”

July-September: This may feel like the time to take a break, but this is actually a crucial time to maintain your presence on social media. Welcome new families, celebrate current students, and share back-to-school excitement. If a family enrolled in February, they have six months before school starts—plenty of time to get excited about their choice. Use this period to keep them engaged, remind them why they chose your school, and help them look forward to the fall.

Turn One Event into Multiple Posts

Your school-wide festivals, student-led conferences and achievement assemblies are a gold mine for social media content. If documenting and sharing feels overwhelming, you can work smarter by repurposing one even into multiple posts across all your channels.

Let’s say you created a virtual tour video for your website. You can also share a clip as a reel on Instagram, post a still photo and caption on Facebook, and send an email to prospective families sharing the highlights from your video. There’s no need to constantly create brand new content from scratch. Instead, be strategic in how you repurpose it and maximize your effort to prevent burnout.

Understanding Your Enrollment Funnel

If you’ve been around marketing at all, you’ve probably seen an enrollment funnel diagram. At the top is awareness—that’s your social media, paid ads, SEO, and community events. This is where families first learn you exist.

The next stage is engagement. Families are ready to learn more and actively engage with your content. Meet them where they are through tours, open houses, a well-written landing page, and easy website navigation.

Then comes conversion—when families actually enroll. Focus on creating smooth processes and seamless transitions at this stage.

At the bottom is loyalty—what you do every day to keep families engaged and happy so they stay with you and share about your school with others.

Here’s the key insight: look for where families are leaving your funnel. Are they submitting forms but not scheduling tours? That process could use some attention. Coming for tours but not applying? There’s an opportunity to strengthen that experience and address any concerns they might have.

As marketers, we can always generate more leads at the top of the funnel. But if you have gaps in your funnel, more leads won’t solve the underlying issue. It’s about fixing the experience at each stage.

Your Homepage: The Five-Second Test

Everybody who visits your website scans your homepage quickly – that’s why you need to have key information readily available within five seconds.

Do a quick homepage audit:

Can visitors immediately see what grades you serve?
Is your location clear?
Is the “Apply Now” or “Schedule Tour” button easy to spot?
Are there photos showing your school in action that give a feel for your culture?

Families are busy and often researching multiple schools, so clear navigation helps them quickly understand if your school might be a good fit. And don’t forget to check that your website also looks great and is easy to navigate on mobile devices—most families research schools on their phones during lunch breaks, in carpool lines, or in the evening from the couch.

Simplify Your Forms & Don’t Forget to Follow Up

Detailed inquiry forms can create unnecessary friction for busy families who want to connect with you quickly.

Instead, capture only the essentials: name, email, and phone number at minimum. It doesn’t hurt to ask for the grade level(s) they are interested in, but keep everything else streamlined. Remember, the goal of the form is to start a conversation, not to collect every piece of information upfront.

The first 24 hours after someone fills out a form are critical for building connection and momentum. Set up an automated confirmation via email or text so parents know their inquiry reached you. In that confirmation, share what your school’s enrollment process looks like. It can be as simple as “We’ll follow up with an email or phone call in the next 24 hours.” Clarity and responsiveness will build trust right from the start.

Free Tools Can Help You Strategize

Google Analytics tells you everything you need to know about what’s happening on your website—and it’s completely free to use.

Look at where your traffic is coming from to discover what’s really working. High organic traffic? You have a strong web presence and SEO. Lower traffic from Facebook ads? You might consider adjusting your ad strategy or spending.

The pages that get the most visits tell you what prospective families are looking for. If your athletics page or STEM page consistently gets high traffic, lean into that in your marketing messaging by highlighting those programs.

Your inquiry form completion rate shows you how easy—or difficult—it is for families to connect with you. If that rate is low, streamlining the form (as I mentioned above) could help.

Also check your bounce rate on key pages like landing pages and enrollment pages. If people are leaving quickly, ask yourself: what can we do to keep people engaged on these pages and make it easy for them to click that “Enroll Now” button?

Success Requires Commitment

Whether you’re working with a marketing partner or building your strategy internally, you’ll need to invest time every week. Laying the groundwork with authentic stories from your students, families, and daily school life will be more effective than chasing viral moments on the latest platform. The marketing strategy and tools amplify what you create, but the heart of it has to come from you and your school community.

The long and short of it? Show up where your families are, tell real stories about what makes your school special, and make every step of the enrollment process as easy and welcoming as possible.

About the Author

Jesse Foss is a Content Strategist on the Enrollment Marketing team at Grow Schools, where she helps charter schools develop and implement effective content strategies that drive enrollment.