Strong schools are safe havens and pillars of support for families across the nation, offering nurturing learning environments to kids regardless of background. Yet, the impact of schools extends far beyond the classroom. Dive into compelling stories that illuminate how schools are actively shaping and elevating their communities, making a lasting difference.

1. Dream Charter School Food Drive

Dream Charter School in the Bronx prepared bags of ingredients for holiday meals this season, bags containing turkeys, fresh produce, and more. The volunteers were, in the words of Senior Director of Family Community Engagement Nadirah Chestnut, “really excited to ring in the holiday season in the spirit of service.” 300 students and families in the Bronx will have warm holiday meals thanks to their generosity.  

2.  Epic Charter School’s “Suitcase Project” 

Epic Charter School donated supplies for 1,500 students facing homelessness in their annual Suitcase Project. The volunteers packed suitcases full of books, coats, gloves, and toiletries—their community collected over 15,000 donated items. Sharla Conaway, the Family Engagement Community Outreach Specialist for Epic, called it an “overwhelming response of love and kindness.” 
 

3.  Kipp Star Harlem Elementary’s Sock Drive

Kipp Star Harlem Elementary kicked off the holiday season by setting a goal of raising 1000 pairs of socks for people in shelters. During October—or, “Socktober” as they named it—the kids were able to exceed their goal by tenfold, collecting 9,000 pairs of socks. They kept the energy going by hosting a Thanksgiving food drive followed by a toy drive this December. “You’re never too young to understand what it means to help someone else,” said the school’s principal, Brandi Vardiman.   

4. Ivy Academia’s Pet Supply and Canned Food Drive

At Ivy Academia, a TK-8 public charter school in Woodland Hills, California, gave back with a pet supply drive for Rockin’ Pet Rescue, a local animal rescue organization. They also collected canned foods for West Valley Food Pantry. The first collection of non-perishables is around Thanksgiving time but given the busy holiday season, they also donate in December and January to help replenish the empty shelves.

Students also stuffed and dressed teddy bears for Operation Gratitude’s Battalion Buddies. These cuddly bears are distributed to the children of deployed service members to comfort them while their loved ones are so far away.

5. New Millenium Secondary School’s Toy Drive and Blood Donation

Giving back is written right into New Millennium Secondary School’s graduation requirements.  At this small Gardena, California public high school serving 9th – 12th grades, students earn community service credits that are applied to graduation. This year, they collected toys for Los Angeles Fire Department Spark of Love in December and organized Red Cross Blood Drive at the school.

6. Kavod Charter School‘s Schoolwide Walk, Beach Clean Up, and More

At Kavod Charter School in San Diego, California, service learning and giving back are woven into the fabric of our tuition-free TK-8 school. Students exemplify the school’s values by doing good deeds for each other, the school and the greater San Diego community.

Service learning is a core tenet of Kavod Charter School‘s philosophy. This San Diego accomplished various community service projects, including collecting dog supplies for Animal Pad Dog Rescue, donating toys and shoes to local organizations, writing letters of appreciation to First Responders, fundraising for the Snack Shack, participating in beach cleanup, providing care packages for those in need, and organizing a schoolwide walk for epilepsy awareness. The 3rd-grade class completed the Domino Challenge using cereal boxes and donated the resulting items to a local food bank.

7. Edge High School’s Community Partnerships

Edge High School, in Tucson, Arizona, is grounded on the value of giving back in a variety of ways. Students learn and give back in service by partnering with the community. Edge students participated in farm chores at Felicia’s Farm and learned about compost management and organic farming practices. Edge has been successfully partnering with Iskashitaa Refugee Network since 2016, helping to host refugees from Sudan and other countries at our tuition-free charter high school. They also partner with Gap Ministries, which offeres a variety of services in the Tucson area, including group homes for children and teens.

About the Author
Untitled Design 2

As a content strategist for Grow Schools’s Enrollment Marketing team, Sally LeBaron has the privilege of showcasing schools that provide kids a great education. Ever a proponent of innovative and creative school programs. Sally also brings her perspective as a parent of two elementary school-aged boys, which has helped her understand the challenges involved in finding the right educational institution for a child.

As celebrations of Pride Month happen around the country, schools in the charter school movement have stepped forward to support LGBTQ students around the country. And one, Magic City Acceptance Academy (MCAA), is Alabama’s first LGBTQ-centered charter school. After being rejected by the Alabama Public Charter School Commission three different times, they finally opened their doors last fall. 

The building, educators, and school leaders provide a safe place where LGBTQ+ students can attend school free from harassment, racism, and bullying. The 240 6th-12th grade students who attend MCAA can be themselves at school without fear.

The staff at MCAA focuses on social-emotional learning and goes beyond academics by directing students to learn more about self-awareness, self-management, decision-making, relationship skills, and social awareness.

The school has a strong commitment to the social-emotional learning process. The school leaders want to go beyond academics, fostering learning on self-management, self-awareness, decision-making, relationship skills, and social awareness.

The students at MCAA have been watching a challenging civics lesson unfold this year as the State of Alabama debates over the transgender health care law that wouldn’t allow anyone under the age of 19 to seek hormone therapy or gender reassignment surgeries. Because of their charter school, students have a safe space to discuss these topics and process their feelings. 

While the world around them argues and debates the future, most students and staff breathe a small sigh of relief as their first academic year comes to a close. MCAA has plans for the future, as school leaders hope to boost enrollment to 350 students next year and add Mandarin to their foreign language department, which already includes French and Spanish. There is also a discussion of adding Advanced Placement classes down the road.

For the students and staff at Magic City Acceptance Academy, the school is a refuge where everyone is free to be who they are, making MCAA an extraordinary place in the charter school education landscape.

As part of National Charter Schools Week, these parents needed their voices to be heard about their choice of a high-quality education for their children. So they went to D.C. to share their stories of how their local charter schools have had a positive impact on their children. 

The new regulations being proposed by the Administration would cripple growth, expansion, and the startup of charter schools across the nation and the 3.6 million students they serve. And about 65% of these charter schools are in low-income, Black, and Hispanic neighborhoods where students are already struggling to get a quality education from public schools.

Why are charter schools important? The evidence is undeniable:

Charter schools are important for several reasons. The first reason is that charter schools are usually created by former teachers or groups that want to pursue education in an innovative way. Some charter schools tend to lean more into the arts while others focus more on STEM, and still others concentrate on college prep. Each charter school is unique. So the curriculum is very student-focused with specific goals. More specific goals can allow for smaller class sizes.

In addition to smaller class sizes, a study by the Manhattan Institute discovered that charter schools average an additional 59 learning days of math and 44 days of reading. This means that students in charter schools generally perform better on tests, but more importantly, they have higher graduation rates for Black and Latino students in comparison with traditional public schools.

A study done by the New York Department of Education showed that Black students who attended a charter school in elementary and middle grades were 60% more likely to get into the most desirable secondary schools. Latino students who attended charter schools were 2 times more likely. This then transfers to higher graduation rates for minority students as well as higher college acceptance rates.

And, charter schools have better behavioral records in general, because charter schools often have more community involvement. This means their attendance is more steady, teen pregnancy rates are lower, suspension rates are lower, and incarceration rates are also lower.

Be an advocate for Charter Schools!

As part of National Charter Schools Week, the National Alliance for Charter Schools is celebrating 30 years. You can also join the festivities and learn more about charter schools and how you can support them in your community.

Black leaders have long understood the path to equity is through education. That’s why Black people risked punishment, in times when learning to read was made illegal to them, to smuggle books and teach their children.

That’s why educators such as Fanny Jackson Coppin and Mary McLeod Bethune fought so hard to increase education opportunities for African-American people.

And that’s the very same reason why Black charter school leaders devote our lives to creating and growing charter schools that elevate educational standards in predominantly Black communities.

That’s why young educators like Patrick Edmond are stepping up to the plate as school leaders. That’s why my team of charter school leaders at ELITE Public Schools is bringing STEM and robotics programs to Black students.

That’s why inspiring educators such as Robert Marshall of Vanguard Collegiate of Indianapolis place such an emphasis on Social Emotional Learning and the well-being of their students.

That’s why charter school leaders like Craig Cason are demanding excellence from Black students and growing an expectation that college admission is not only achievable but the expected norm.

[CallOutBox bgcolor=”orange”]”We are committed to educating our young people and work hard to develop the whole mind of each of our Scholars. We focus on the “why” of education and want all students to understand the importance and significance of getting a quality education.” — Craig Cason, DuBois Integrity Academy[/CallOutBox]

Black Charter school leaders are aware these schools provide Black families with educational opportunities. Many studies also show these schools are getting dramatically better outcomes for Black students.

Charter schools are also more likely to employ Black teachers. This is important because research shows that Black students who have one or more Black teachers are more likely to go to college.

A Unique Problem-Solving Perspective

Charter school leaders focused on Black excellence bring a unique problem-solving perspective to their mission. In the economically depressed county is Quincy, Florida, Crossroad Academy Charter School is teaming up with a historically Black University to bring opportunity to rural Black students.

In Madison, WI, One City Charter Schools is partnering with a network of local realtors to bring Black families up to $15,000 for a down payment on a home. The program, called “OWN IT, Building Black Wealth.”

That’s why some charter schools are focusing on employment opportunities post-COVID.

That’s why Black education leader Sharif El-Mekki has raised $3 million with which he aims to bring 21,000 Black students into the teacher pipeline.

As Sharif El-Mekki states in an opinion piece, Black leaders have long looked at charter schools as a mechanism of emancipation, a tool for self-determination. School choice has meant something at a much deeper level to folks who were at one time actively prevented from learning.

  • A national study of 41 urban areas estimated that charter schools provide black students in poverty with an additional 59 days of learning in math and 44 days of learning in reading per year.
  • In a review of 15 randomized control trial studies on academic effects of urban charter schools, 12 showed significant benefits for reading and math, three showed no effects, and none showed negative effects.
  • Studies in three states have demonstrated that attending charter high schools boosts college entry and persistence.
  • Studies in two districts have shown that attending charter schools decreases criminal activity. (Source: Madison Institute)

Honoring Leaders of the Past, Building Leaders of Tomorrow

Robert Marshall, Founder & Executive Director of Vanguard Collegiate of Indianapolis, was recently recognized as one of the select few InnoPower Innovators on the Rise, for his role in furthering Black innovation and advancement.

 

This fall, DuBois Integrity Academy will be taking a field trip this Fall to Selma, Alabama as part of a historic reflection on the benefits of knowing the struggles of the past. DuBois Integrity Academy will take 700 of their scholars on a walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, which has become such an important part of our American history.

The Black Teacher Pipeline will launch this year. It will identify and cultivate high school and college students for careers in education, offering them apprenticeships starting in high school, mentorship into college, and overall support through their first four years in the profession.

The Black Educators of Excellence Fellowship will partner with the United Negro College Fund to recruit and financially support students.

The goal is to bring 21,000 Black students into the teaching pipeline and mint 9,100 Black teachers over the next 12 years in 10 communities around the country.


Resources:

 

charter school policy

Charter School Policy: A 50-State Comparison

Editor’s Note: This is a great resource on charter school policy that was published on January 20, 2020. It is from the Education Commission of the States and compares charter school policies and how they align or differ across the 50 states. Education Commission of the States is the trusted source for comprehensive knowledge and unbiased resources on education policy issues ranging from early learning through postsecondary education.

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 school choice, charter school growth, and the advancement of the charter school movement as a whole. We hope you find this—and any other article we curate—both interesting and valuable.


50-State Comparison: Charter School Policies

Charter schools are semi-autonomous public schools that receive public funds. They operate under a written contract with a state, district or other entity (referred to as an authorizer or sponsor). This contract — or charter — details how the school will be organized and managed, what students will be expected to achieve, and how success will be measured. Many charter schools are exempt from a variety of laws and regulations affecting other public schools if they continue to meet the terms of their charters.

Charter school laws vary from state to state and often differ on several important factors, such as who may authorize charter schools, how authorizers and charter schools are held accountable for student outcomes, and whether charter school teachers must be certified.

Currently, 45 states and the District of Columbia have charter school laws. West Virginia’s charter school laws, created in 2019, are the newest.

Education Commission of the States has researched charter school policies in all 50 states to provide this comprehensive resource, updated January 2020. Click on the questions below for 50-State Comparisons, showing how all states approach specific charter school policies. Or view a specific state’s approach by going to the individual state profiles page.

50-State Comparisons

Charter School Basics

 Charter School Applications

 Charter School Authorizing

Charter School Autonomy and Accountability

Charter School Funding

 Charter School Teachers

 Virtual Charter Schools

Related Resources


Charter School Capital logoSince the company’s inception in 2007, Charter School Capital has been committed to the success of charter schools. We help schools access, leverage, and sustain the resources charter schools need to thrive, allowing them to focus on what matters most – educating students. Our depth of experience working with charter school leaders and our knowledge of how to address charter school financial and operational needs have allowed us to provide over $2 billion in support of 600 charter schools that have educated over 1,027,000 students across the country. For more information on how we can support your charter school, contact us. We’d love to work with you!

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school resources for COVID-19 coronavirus10 Great School Resources for COVID-19 (Coronavirus)

As promised, we’re going to try to keep you as informed as possible and continue to provide school resources for COVID-19 (coronavirus) preparation and response. These recent articles come from several trusted resources including Education Week, National Association of Independent Schools, UNESCO, the National Association of School Psychologists, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Here are 10 great articles with school resources for COVID-19 (coronavirus). Take a look!

  1. Symptoms of Coronavirus

2. Preventing the Spread of COVID-19 in Communities 

3. COVID-19 Educational Disruption and Response

4. How to Respond to Coronavirus: 6 Steps for Schools

5. 9 Things Educators Need to Know About Coronavirus

6. Coronavirus and Schools

7. 6 Lessons Learned About Remote Learning During the Coronavirus Outbreak

8. Understanding Coronavirus: What Schools Need to Know

9. Coronavirus (COVID-19) Guidance for Schools

10. Talking to Children About COVID-19 (Coronavirus): A Parent Resource

We will continue to keep a pulse on the situation and share information as it becomes available.

Stay tuned to our Events page to attend our upcoming webinars on this topic and find any we’ve recorded here on demand.


Charter School Capital logoSince the company’s inception in 2007, Charter School Capital has been committed to the success of charter schools. We help schools access, leverage, and sustain the resources charter schools need to thrive, allowing them to focus on what matters most – educating students. Our depth of experience working with charter school leaders and our knowledge of how to address charter school financial and operational needs have allowed us to provide over $2 billion in support of 600 charter schools that have educated over 1,027,000 students across the country. For more information on how we can support your charter school, contact us. We’d love to work with you!

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Charter SchoolsCharter Schools Are A Better Investment Than Traditional Public Schools

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published here on April 9, 2019 by the New York Post. It was written by Patrick Wolf, a distinguished professor of education policy and holds the endowed chair in school choice at the University of Arkansas and Corey DeAngelis, a policy analyst at the Cato Institute. It examines which type of public school — traditional or public charter — delivered the most ­academically cost-effective education.
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 and the advancement of the charter school movement as a whole. We hope you find this—and any other article we curate—both interesting and valuable.


Case closed: Charter schools deliver more education ‘bang’ for the buck

Polls show that most Americans think our public schools deserve more funding. Meanwhile, each year, states and school districts make choices about how to spend the education funds that they have. Doesn’t it make sense for them to invest in schools that work — schools that help students learn the most with the lowest burden on taxpayers?
Several years ago, we began ­researching which type of public school — traditional or public charter — delivered the most ­academically cost-effective education. In a 2018 report, we ­examined eight cities: New York City plus Atlanta, Boston, Denver, Houston, Indianapolis, San Antonio and Washington, DC.
While their sizes and demographics vary widely, each city has a substantial concentration of students enrolled in charter schools. In every city, we found that charter schools were more productive — that is, they yielded more learning per education dollar spent than traditional district schools.
Students enrolled in New York City’s charter schools scored roughly 12 points in reading on the 2015 National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, for ­every $1,000 invested in those schools.
By contrast, students in the city’s traditional public schools produced about 9.5 NAEP reading points per $1,000 invested, generating a cost-effectiveness advantage of 24% for charters in the Big Apple. The results for math were similar: More than 13 NAEP points per $1,000 of funding for charters compared to almost 10.5 points for traditional schools.
We also discovered that Washington, DC, charters were 67% more cost-effective than traditional schools. Indianapolis charters bested their traditional counterparts by 65% on the productivity measure.
This year we revisited the same eight cities to see if the trend had continued. It had. Once again, the charter schools in each city proved more cost-effective. Public charter schools in New York were 25% more cost-effective than the city’s traditional public schools in producing 2017 NAEP reading scores and 26% more cost-effective in generating math scores.
San Antonio charter schools, to take another example, were 29% more cost-effective in math and 30% more cost-effective in reading than traditional schools. Washington charters were 43% more cost-effective in both subjects. The results for each city are detailed in our report, “A Good Investment: The Updated Productivity of Public Charter Schools in Eight U.S. Cities.”
We recognized that NAEP scores represent only a snapshot of academic performance. So we were curious what long-term academic results would reveal.
By calculating the average amount of learning at traditional and charter schools, the economic returns to those learning levels over the ­average lifetime, as well as each type of school’s total per-pupil funding over the course of a K-12 education, we were able to calculate the return on investment, or ROI, delivered by each type of school.
In all eight cities, we found that charters delivered a greater lifetime ROI. For each dollar invested in a student enrolled in traditional schools, that student secures $4.41 in lifetime earnings. The same dollar invested in a student enrolled in charter schools yields $6.37 in lifetime earnings for that student.
Public charter schools’ ROI exceeded that of traditional public schools by an average of 53%. Atlanta charter schools yielded an ROI that was 102% greater than traditional schools. Indianapolis came in second, with charters’ ROI 73% greater than traditional schools, followed by Washington charters at 58% and Boston charters at 53%.
The ROI for learning generated in New York City charters was 29% higher than the ROI in the traditional public schools in the city.
Elected officials and policymakers have a choice about where to invest educational resources and a responsibility to invest wisely. Charter schools are, simply put, a good investment. Our findings are just one more reason why lawmakers in Albany should raise the cap on charters in New York City and give the more than 53,000 Big Apple families on charter waitlists the chance to get the sound education they deserve.


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


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immigration policiesUS Immigration Policies and Deportation Affecting Student Attendance

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published here, on November 20, 2018 by NBC News and was written by Nicole Acevedo.
We realize that politics and immigration laws touch both traditional public school children and public charter families equally.

Experts found that in the U.S., deportation fears are having an impact on school attendance, whether students are afraid of their own deportation or of a loved one’s.

We’re sharing this article because the stories we’re continuing to hear about the negative effects on children impacted by immigration policy continue to concern, move, and sadden us. Listen as one of our charter leaders from Academia Avance (also mentioned in the below article) shares his students’ struggles with immigration policy, here.


Immigration policies, deportation threats keep kids out of school, report states

Las Cruces, New Mexico saw a 60% spike in school absences after an immigration raid.

Nov. 20, 2018 / 11:46 AM PST
By Nicole Acevedo
Current immigration policies and fears of deportation are keeping U.S. children out of school.
Authors of UNESCO’s new Global Education Monitoring report, Building Bridges, Not Walls studied how the way different countries implement education and immigration policies can either promote or learning environments for immigrant children, migrants or refugees.
Experts found that in the U.S., deportation fears are having an impact on school attendance, whether students are afraid of their own deportation or of a loved one’s.
The fear is exacerbated if schools allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to search the facilities or collect immigration information from students.
Seven percent of U.S. children are born to parents who don’t have legal immigration status.

A school district in Las Cruces, New Mexico, saw a 60 percent spike in absenteeism after an immigration raid shook the community in February of last year. As a result, the school board changed its policies. They stopped collecting information regarding the immigration status of its students and started rejecting requests from ICE agents to access school grounds without judicial warrants.
In Tennessee, a similar pattern surfaced seven months ago after one of the largest workplace immigration raids took place in Morristown — mainly affecting Latino families living in the area. According to the report, 20 percent of Hispanic students in Hamblen County, where Morristown is located, missed school following the raid.
“I’m afraid that one day out of the blue, my mom will be gone or my dad will be gone,” said Heidi Mensobar, a student from Academia Avance in Los Angeles, who was interviewed as part of the report.
Academia Avance’s principal, St Claire Adriaan, works with a student population that includes Mexican-American students of legal and undocumented status.
“We’ve had parents arrested for deportation which obviously affected the school,” said Adriaan. “It is bothersome that students are going through so much, and how it affects their learning.”
Overall, the study found that the immigration policies being implemented by the U.S. government “are detrimental to the education of those with undocumented status.”
Roughly 50,000 children are detained at the U.S.-Mexico border any given year. According to the report, pediatric and mental health professionals who visited family detention centers nationwide reported that the facilities provided inadequate education services.
However, the report points out some silver linings in the way some U.S. policies protect immigrants’ education.
As of May 2018, about 700,000 people eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA, applied.
DACA, which was introduced by President Barack Obama in 2012, provides two-year renewable protections that shield some undocumented youth from deportation if they are working or attending school.
Since DACA’s implementation, high school graduation rates increased approximately 15 percent, according to the report. Community colleges, which tends to better accommodate working students also saw positive effects.
In an effort from President Donald Trump to phase out the DACA program, current beneficiaries are able to renew their DACA status but the program is not taking new applications.
After studying the impact immigration and education policies have on undocumented students in the United States, UNESCO issued the following recommendations in its final report:

  • The U.S. needs to strengthen measures that enable better access and improved quality for immigrant children’s education.
  • It needs to ensure that school grounds are a safe space for undocumented migrants, without fear of deportation.

 


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

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public charter schoolsNew 2018 Survey Shows Support for Public Charter Schools is Strong

Note: This post from the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools was originally published on December 5, 2018, and can be found here. It is a summary of a new report “2018 Schooling in America Survey” by EdChoice. We thought sharing it was a great way to wrap up this year!
This annual survey—developed and reported by EdChoice and interviews conducted by their partner, Braun Research, Inc.—measures public opinion and awareness on a range of K–12 education topics, including parents’ schooling preferences, educational choice policies, the federal government’s role in education and more. They report response levels, differences (“margins”) and intensities for the country and a range of demographic groups. And this year, the survey includes an additional sample of current public school teachers to gauge whom they trust and how they feel about their profession, accountability, standardized testing and more.
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 and the advancement of the charter school movement as a whole. We hope you find this—and any other article we curate—both interesting and valuable.


61 Percent of Americans Support Public Charter Schools in “2018 Schooling in America Survey” by EdChoice

*Today [*on December 5, 2018] EdChoice released the 2018 Schooling in America Survey, which measures public opinion, awareness and knowledge of K-12 education topics and reforms.
This year’s results confirm that support for charter schools is strong. While parent satisfaction among home school, private school, and district school students decreased, satisfaction increased among charter school parents. Additionally, 43 percent of parents surveyed indicated that they were “very satisfied” with charter schools, compared to just 26 percent of parents at district schools.
National Alliance for Public Charter Schools President and CEO Nina Rees said,
“The EdChoice survey findings put data behind what we hear from parents all the time: They love public charter schools and they want more children to have access to them. Seeing that six out of 10 Americans (61 percent) support public charter schools, while just 29 percent oppose them should convince lawmakers at every level of government to work together to ensure that students have access to high-quality, free public-school options.”
About 62 percent of parents surveyed would rate their local charter schools with an A or B grade, 10 percent higher than the rating parents would give to their local district schools. Furthermore, 13 percent of current and former school parents said they would prefer to send their child to a public charter school if it was an option. Among the surveyed teachers, 61% of teachers favored charter schools when provided with a basic description of a charter school. The report findings clearly indicate that parents want to have the opportunity to choose the best school for their child, and that the majority of public school teachers recognize charter schools put kids first.


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

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charter school funding

Charter School Funding Reaching Schools in 38 States

Editor’s Note: This post on charter school funding originally ran here, on November 6, 2018. It was written by Christy Wolfe, a Senior Policy Advisor for the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (NAPCS)and was published by The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. We are always inspired by the outstanding content disseminated by the NAPCS and are proud to share their valuable information.
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 and the advancement of the charter school movement as a whole. We hope you find this—and any other article we curate—both interesting and valuable.


FY 2018 PROGRAM UPDATE: CHARTER SCHOOLS PROGRAM FUNDS REACHING SCHOOLS IN 38 STATES

In September, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) awarded grants in four of the six Charter Schools Programs (CSP): State Entities, Developers, Credit Enhancement, and Dissemination.
charter school funding map
Congress appropriated a total of $400 million for these awards for FY 2018, including funds for active awards previously awarded. Due to increased funding in recent years, more states than ever have access to start-up funding—31 states have State Entity grants and charter schools in an additional seven states were successful in receiving Developer grants. Many states are also seeing charter school growth through grants to Charter Management Organizations for the Replication and Expansion of High-Quality Charter Schools, but awards were not made for that program during FY 2018.
This year, the program awards are a bit more complicated because, for the first time, two competitions were run under the new requirements in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Let’s take a closer look at where the money went:

State Entity Grants: Funds to Open Charter Schools and Build Statewide Sector Quality

The State Entity grant program plays a key role in not only awarding subgrants to schools, but also providing funding for technical assistance and strengthening the quality of authorizers in a state.

  • Eight states received awards: Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Idaho, Michigan, North Carolina, New York.
  • Five states were not successful: Alabama, D.C., Guam, New Hampshire, Puerto Rico.
  • Two Charter Support Organizations (CSOs) were funded: The new changes in ESSA unlocked CSP funding for non-state educational agency applicants, including CSOs. This year, two funded applicants from Arkansas and Idaho were CSOs.

At the close of this competition, 31 states (including D.C.) have a current CSP grant in their state (14 states with charter school laws are unfunded). Next year, nine states will likely have expired grants, which leaves a potential (although unlikely) pool of 24 applicants. If Guam and Puerto Rico are included, there will be 26 potential applicants.

Charter School Developer Grants: The Safety Net Program

This is the first year the competition has been run since the passage of ESSA. What is new is that there were two sub-competitions: one for replication/expansion grants, and the other for new charter school operators. There were 22 replication/expansion awards and 10 single site applicants. This year there were 32 funded applicants for a total of $30.2 million.
Ideally, this program would be obsolete. It is a safety for charter schools that wish to open in states that do not have a state entity program. If there was enough funding – and state capacity – for every state with a charter school law to have funding, new charter schools could simply apply to their state. Instead, after obtaining their charter contract, schools need to jump through the hoops required by federal grants to access funding. So, until every state has adequate funding for start-ups in their state, this program will continue to play a key role in advancing charter school growth.
BUT—you may have noticed that some developer grants went to states that also got a state-entity award (Idaho, Illinois, Michigan, North Carolina, and New York). The reason for this is, in part, because ED ran the State Entity and Developer competitions at the same time this year, so Developer applicants didn’t know if their state would receive a State Entity grant prior to applying. ED did not deem those applicants ineligible even when their state ended up receiving a State Entity grant. In addition, some developers were awarded a grant for replication and expansion because their state didn’t have a State Entity grant that permits them to make such awards, such as Ohio (NCLB-era grants don’t permit such awards unless a state has an approved waiver).
Of states that don’t have a CSP State Entity grant, seven have schools that received Developer grants: Alabama, Hawaii, Maine, Missouri, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Utah have charter schools that received Developer grants. Eight states with charter school laws have neither State Entity nor Developer grants (not including Guam and Puerto Rico).

Current Charter Schools Program Grants: State Entity and Developer Grants

Charter School Funding

Credit Enhancement: Reducing Facility Costs for Charter Schools

The Credit Enhancement program awards grants to organizations to “enhance” charter school credit so that they can access private-sector and other non-Federal capital in order to acquire, construct, and renovate facilities at a more reasonable cost. This year early $40 million was awarded to four entities.
This is a significant decrease from the $56.2 million in awards for 2017. More funds were awarded last year, in part, due to the large pool of high-quality applicants and the needs of the sector. This year, appropriators restricted ED’s flexibility to fund additional applicants, so they were limited to $40 million. Unlike the other CSP programs, Credit Enhancement funds are a one-time allocation so there aren’t any continuation awards—the amount appropriated is the amount that goes out the door.

Dissemination: Advancing Accountability and Facilities Access

Like the Developer program, this was the first competition year for the new National Dissemination program under ESSA. Previously, this program was known as the National Activities program and had a somewhat broader focus. Under ESSA, the program is focused on the dissemination and development of best practices. This year, 8 grants were awarded to organizations and charter school operators for a total of $16.2 million over the grant period. There were two “buckets” of funding to which applicants could apply: charter school authorizing and charter school facilities. For FY 2019, we anticipate that ED will propose new priorities for this program.
The National Alliance is pleased to be a recipient of a Dissemination grant to establish the National Charter Schools Facilities Center to develop and disseminate best practices and reduce the burden of obtaining and financing charter school facilities.

Grants to Charter Management Organizations for the Replication and Expansion of High- Quality Charter Schools: A Delayed Competition

ED did not run a competition for the CMO Replication and Expansion program because the agency is required to propose and take public comments on new program rules under ESSA. Comments for the new competition closed on August of 2018 and the competition will open later this year or in early 2019. Congress knew that ED would need extra time, so FY2018 funds for this program didn’t expire on September 30—ED has until March 2019 to make awards. ED’s “forecast” indicates that the competition for this program will be announced in late November 2018 and applications will be due around the start of the New Year. $120 million is available, and a little more than half of that amount will likely be available for new awards.


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


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