school choice poll

School Choice Poll: 70% of Voters Support Charter Schools

Editor’s Note: This survey was published by the American Federation for Children on January 21, 2020. 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. 


American Federation of Children’s Sixth Annual National School Choice Poll Results

The American Federation for Children released its annual education survey today. Support for charter schools is at 70 percent, with just 26 percent opposed. Perhaps even more encouragingly, “a majority of voters [58 percent] are less likely to support candidates who want to eliminate federal charter school funding.” Among subgroups, 65 percent of Latino voters, 62 percent of African Americans, and 56 percent of Democratic primary voters would be less likely to back a candidate who wants to de-fund the CSP. This despite Sen. Elizabeth Warren making Charter Schools Program elimination a central plank of her presidential education proposal and other candidates attacking charter schools in various ways. Perhaps hostility to charters isn’t quite as firmly set as we’ve feared. The Obama-Clinton position on charters may ultimately carry the day.

Download Survey Results

Public Charter Schools
Public Charter Schools Give Children an Option to Succeed

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published here on November 18, 2019, by the NY Times, and was written by Cory A. Booker, Democratic senator from New Jersey and a presidential candidate.

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. Especially now, when so much is on the line with the upcoming presidential election, we hope you find this—and any other article we curate—both interesting and valuable


Cory Booker: Stop Being Dogmatic About Public Charter Schools

We can’t dismiss good ideas because they don’t fit into neat ideological boxes or don’t personally affect some of the louder, more privileged voices in the party.

About 15 years ago, when I was living in Brick Towers, a high-rise, low-income housing community in Newark’s Central Ward, a neighbor stopped me and told me about how her child’s public school was failing its students, like many others in our area at the time. Desperate, she asked if I knew a way to help get her child into a private school. She knew, as all parents do, that a great education was her child’s primary pathway to a better life.

My parents knew this all too well. When I was a baby, they fought to move our family into a community with well-funded public schools. These neighborhoods, especially in the 1960s and ’70s, were often in exclusively white neighborhoods. And because of the color of my parents’ skin, local real estate agents refused to sell my parents a home. My parents responded by enlisting the help of activists and volunteers who then set up a sting operation to demonstrate that our civil rights were being violated. Because of their activism we were eventually able to move into the town where I grew up.

Fifty years later, access to a high-quality public education still often hinges on the ZIP code a child lives in, skin color and the size of the family’s bank account.

Parents in struggling communities across the country are going to extraordinary lengths to try to get their children into great public schools. There is even a trend of children’s guardians using fake addresses to enroll them in better schools in nearby neighborhoods or towns — living in fear of hired investigators who follow children home to verify their addresses.

While millions of families are struggling with this system, we have Republicans in Congress, the White House and state legislatures across the country making problems worse, undermining public education and attacking public-school teachers.

So it is largely up to Democrats — especially those of us in this presidential primary race — to have a better discussion about practical K-12 solutions to ensure that every child in our country can go to a great public school. That discussion needs to include high-achieving public charter schools when local communities call for them.

Many public charter schools have proved to be an effective, targeted tool to give children with few other options a chance to succeed.

For-profit charter school schemes and the anti-public education agenda of President Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos are hurting teachers, students and their families. Of course, we must fight back against these misguided and harmful forces. But we shouldn’t let the worst actors distort this crucial debate, as they have in recent years.

The treatment by many Democratic politicians of high-performing public charter schools as boogeymen has undermined the fact that many of these schools are serving low-income urban children across the country in ways that are inclusive, equitable, publicly accountable and locally driven.

When I was mayor of Newark, we invested in both traditional public schools and high-performing public charter schools. Following our efforts, the citywide graduation rate rose to 77 percent in 2018 from just above 50 percent a decade ago. Today, Newark is ranked the No. 1 city in America for “beat the odds” high-poverty, high-performance schools by the Center on Reinventing Public Education.

We refused to accept the false choice between supporting public-school teachers and giving parents options for their kids when they had none, and the city worked with our local teacher’s union to give our public school teachers a raise too. And we didn’t just blindly invest in good public charter schools, Newark closed bad ones too.

As Democrats, we can’t continue to fall into the trap of dismissing good ideas because they don’t fit into neat ideological boxes or don’t personally affect some of the louder, more privileged voices in the party. These are not abstract issues for many low-to-middle-income families, and we should have a stronger sense of urgency, and a more courageous empathy, about their plight.

Especially at this moment of crisis for our country, we must be the party of real solutions, not one that threatens schools that work for millions of families who previously lacked good educational options.

As a party, we need to take a holistic approach to improving outcomes for children who are underserved and historically disadvantaged. That must mean significantly increasing funding for public schools, raising teacher pay, fully funding the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act, investing in universal preschool, eliminating child poverty — and yes, supporting high-performing public charter schools if and when they are the right fit for a community, are equitable and inclusive, and play by the same rules as other public schools.

As a coalition, we have to acknowledge that our goals for federal education funding will continue to face serious political opposition. Supporting well-regulated public charters, in the meantime, is a meaningful complementary solution. The promise of better schools some day down the road doesn’t do much for children who have to go to schools that fail them today.

The Democratic Party is at its best when we lead with the conviction, above all else, to help people. We fall short of that when we race to embrace poll-tested positions that may help us avoid being yelled at on the internet by an unrepresentative few but don’t reflect the impossible choices many low-income families face.

Our primary litmus test for supporting a policy should be whether it is a good idea that, responsibly implemented, can help those who need it. We must be the party that empowers people and stands with them, not against them for convenient political gain. That’s not just the way we will win. It’s the best way to govern.

Cory A. Booker is a Democratic senator from New Jersey and a presidential candidate.

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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 Choice

Do School Choice Programs Reduce Crime? Multiple Studies Say Yes!

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published here by the Washington Examiner, on July 2, 2019 and written by Corey A. DeAngelis, the Director of School Choice at the Reason Foundation and an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute.

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.


Yet Another Study Shows School Choice Programs Reduce Crime

Schools are expected to prepare children to become good citizens. They can help achieve this goal by producing a well-educated populace and promoting strong character. But not all school systems equally contribute to the public good. Indeed, the evidence shows school choice does more to cut crime than residentially-assigned public schools. Here are the facts.

Yet another study just came out revealing the crime-reducing benefits of school choice. Researchers found that entering a charter school in North Carolina in 9th grade reduced the rate at which students were convicted of felonies by 36% and the rate at which they were convicted of misdemeanors as adults by 38%, compared to their peers in traditional public schools.

But this isn’t the first study to show that school choice reduces crime. There are now six rigorous studies on the subject, and all six studies find that school choice cuts crime.

For example, a study by researchers at Harvard and Princeton found that winning a lottery to attend a charter school in New York City reduced the likelihood of incarceration for male students by 100%. That’s right. Winning a lottery to attend a charter school in NYC all-but completely eliminated the chance of incarceration for male students in the sample. But that’s not all — the study also found that winning a charter school lottery reduced teen pregnancy by 59% for female students.

Another study published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics found that winning a lottery to attend a public school of choice cut crime in half, a 50% reduction, for high-risk male students in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Two studies — conducted by Dr. Patrick J. Wolf and I — similarly found that students using the Milwaukee voucher program to attend private schools were significantly less likely to commit crimes than their carefully matched peers in traditional public schools by the time they reached 22 to 28 years of age. The 2016 version is forthcoming at Social Science Quarterly.

But why does school choice reduce crime?

Traditional public schools hold significant monopoly power because of residential assignment and funding through property taxes. Families upset with the quality of their public school only have three limited options: They can purchase an expensive new house that is assigned to a better public school, pay for a private school out of pocket while still paying for the public school through property taxes, or complain to the school leaders and hope things change.

Because these options are expensive and inefficient, there is not a lot of pressure for residentially-assigned public schools to provide the best character education possible. In contrast, private and charter schools must cater to the needs of families if they wish to remain open.

School choice puts power into the hands of families. And families usually know what’s best for their own kids.

But competition isn’t the only explanation. School choice could also reduce crime by matching students to schools that interest them, and by exposing students to peer groups and school cultures that discourage risky behaviors.

So, it’s about time we rethink the notion that residentially-assigned public schools contribute most to the public good. After all, every single study on the topic finds that school choice does more to benefit society by reducing crime.

school choice

School Choice FAQs

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published here by the Center for Education Reform. 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.


JUST THE FAQS—SCHOOL CHOICE

The following are answers to some frequently asked questions (FAQs) regarding school choice and what choice means for students, parents, educators, schools and communities. The answers to these FAQs are intended to provide only an introductory overview of key school choice issues. Links with additional information are provided for those who are interested in learning more.

What Does School Choice Mean?

The term “school choice” means giving parents the power and opportunity to choose the schools their children attend. Traditionally, children are assigned to a public school according to where they live. People of greater economic means already have school choice, because they can afford to move to an area with high quality public schools, or to enroll their children in private schools. Parents without such means, until recently, generally had no school choices, and had to send their children to the schools assigned to them by the district, regardless of the schools’ quality or appropriateness for their children.

School choice creates better educational opportunities for all students, because it uses the dynamics of consumer opportunity and provider competition to drive service quality. This principle can be found anywhere you look, from cars to colleges, but it’s largely absent in our public school system and the poor results are evident, especially in the centers of American culture – our cities. School choice programs foster parental involvement and high expectations by giving parents the option to educate their children as they see fit. It reasserts the rights of parents and the best interests of children over the convenience of the system, infuses accountability and quality into the system, and provides educational opportunity where none existed before.

What Kinds of School Choice Exist Today?

• Full school choice programs, also known as tuition vouchers, provide parents with a portion of the public educational funding allotted for their child to attend school, and allows them to use those funds to send their child to the school of their choice. It gives them the fiscal authority to send their child to the educational institution that best suits their need, whether it is a religious or parochial school, another private school, or a neighborhood or magnet public school. These programs empower the family and, in so doing, infuse consumer accountability into the traditional public school system. Twenty-one voucher programs serve 115,580 students across the country, and several states offer choice scholarship programs specifically for students with special needs.

Access to full school choice programs is often restricted based on geography and income. Although most programs require residency in the district to qualify for vouchers, expanding numbers of statewide programs offer more flexibility. Many programs also have restrictions on income. For instance, the Milwaukee voucher program only offers scholarships to families below 300% of the poverty line.

• Private scholarship programs, locally based and privately funded, also provide opportunities for quality education where none existed before by making the excellence of the private sector available to families of lower socio-economic status. A non-comprehensive list of available private scholarships can be found here.

For more information about and links to voucher and individual scholarship programs, check out School Choice Programs Across the Nation.

• Charter schools are public schools that provide unique educational services to students, or deliver services in ways that the traditional public schools do not offer. They provide an alternative to the cookie-cutter district school model. Charters survive — and succeed — because they operate on the principles of choice, accountability and autonomy not readily found in traditional public schools. (See Just the FAQs – Charter Schools.) Find a charter school and join the nearly 3 million students who have chosen to attend one of the more than 6,500 charter schools in the United States.

• Public School Choice: Forty-six states and DC have adopted public school choice, which allows parents to enroll their children at any public school in a district, or in some cases, in other districts.

• Tuition Tax Credits and Deductions: A number of states offer support of parental school choice through various tax credit or deduction processes. For more information on tax credit scholarship programs visit Tax Credit FAQ.

• Education Savings Accounts (ESAs): A handful of states offer ESAs, which take a child’s state education dollars and create an individual education account that parents can use as they see fit to cover private school tuition, textbooks, tutors, or a variety of education-related expenses as deemed applicable by each individual state law. Arizona was the first state to enact an Education Savings Account program.

A Matter of History

Publicly-Sponsored Secular School Choice (2), Maine; Vermont

The longest running, and least controversial, full school choice program is in Vermont. In order to meet the demand of parents who live in towns too small to support a local public school, the state pays the tuition expenses for children to attend any public or non-sectarian private school (including schools outside the state). Vermont’s initial tuition statute, adopted in 1869 to ensure that both urban and rural school children could receive a quality secondary education, did not distinguish between religious and secular schools. In 1961, a court ruling banned religious schools from participating. The citizens and school board of Chittenden attempted to challenge the ban, but in 1999, the Vermont Supreme Court upheld the ban on religious schools under the Vermont constitution’s “compelled support” clause.

Maine’s tuition system has existed in some form for well over 200 years. During colonial years, and throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, many towns provided for the education of their residents by paying tuition for students to attend “private tuition schools,” many of which were operated by religious organizations. As the public education system grew, it became apparent that many of the state’s rural towns could not afford to build high schools, and so a tuition system was developed that paid the child’s tuition to any school of the parent’s choosing, in-state or out-of-state. But in 1980, the department of education ruled out religiously affiliated schools in towns that have public high schools, limiting many of the traditional choices for quality education that Maine families once exercised. On April 23, 1999, the Maine Supreme Court ruled that the ban on religious schools is not unconstitutional, but did not say whether the inclusion of religious schools would be unconstitutional. The decision does not support the right of parents to send their children to a religious institution and receive a tuition reimbursement. In November of 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case.

Do School Choice Programs Work?

Yes. While most of the programs in question are young, evidence suggests that they provide educational opportunity to those that need it most.

One choice success story comes from the largest and longest running voucher program, the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program. Students in this program tested 9 to 12 percent higher in math, reading and science than their equally disadvantaged peers. Students also graduated at an 18 percent higher rate. The District of Columbia’s Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP) is another school choice success. A 2010 study from the Institute of Education Sciences found that students who were awarded a scholarship graduated from high school at a 12 percent higher rate than those who applied for the scholarship lottery but did not receive it.

Don’t Choice Programs Just “Cream” the Best Students?

Skeptics often argue that school choice programs only succeed because they “cream” the best students, those with the most involved parents or the best academic talents, and leave the hard-to-educate behind in the troubled traditional public school system. By measurements of student academic progress, parental involvement, constituent satisfaction and public school reaction to competition, the above mentioned studies show that choice programs do not succeed by “creaming,” but by providing quality education to all students. Consider:

•  While a third of traditional district public school students nationally are minorities, more than half of charter school students are minorities and 14 percent have identified special needs.

• Established choice scholarship programs in Cleveland and Milwaukee target at-risk children, exclusively from low-income families.

• The older programs in Vermont and Maine provide schooling in rural locations where public schooling was unavailable.

• Private scholarship programs specifically target low-income, at-risk children.

School choice does not “cream;” rather, it allows parents of at-risk children to choose the schooling that best suits their child’s educational and emotional needs, and in many cases parents are able to explore schooling alternatives before their child’s problems become too severe.

Don’t These Programs Just Subsidize the Tuition of Rich People and Leave the Poor Behind?

School choice programs are aimed at serving those least served by the traditional public school system. The two modern programs in Milwaukee and Cleveland help poor and needy children. In Cleveland, students from low-income families receive larger scholarships. 6,377 students participated in the program in the 2013-14 school year, and vouchers can be worth as much as $4,250 per elementary school student, and $5,700 for students in high school. Priority is determined by family income; the student’s family income must be below 200 percent of the poverty line. Low-income students also have a better chance of winning the initial lottery. Because this lottery received considerable attention by the local press, low-income families were more likely to find out that they had won a scholarship.

In Milwaukee, eligibility is limited to Milwaukee families with incomes at or below 300 percent of the federal poverty level. Though more students are eligible, 24,938 students participated in Milwaukee’s voucher program in the 2013-14 school year, receiving an average voucher of $6,442. The original program’s participation was limited to 1.0 percent of MPS enrollment, but the cap has since been removed.

Research Continues to Show Success and Satisfaction

In Evaluation of the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program: Impacts After Three Years, (March 2009) researchers Patrick Wolf, Babette Gutmann, Michael Puma, Brian Kisida, Lou Rizzo, Nada Eissa, and Marsha Silverbrg, found:

• Across the full sample, there was a statistically significant impact on reading achievement from the offer of a scholarship and from the use of a scholarship. These impacts are equivalent to 3.1 and 3.7 months of additional learning, respectively. However, there was no significant impact on math achievement.

• Parents of students offered a scholarship were more likely to report their child’s school to be safer and have a more orderly school climate compared to parents of students not offered a scholarship.

• The scholarship program had a positive impact on parent satisfaction with their child’s school as measured by the likelihood of grading the school an “A” or “B,” both for the impact of a scholarship offer and the impact of scholarship use.

School choice programs have become more common, especially in 2011, when 13 states passed voucher programs and almost 30 more have legislation pending. Indiana passed a voucher bill that has the broadest base of eligibility of any program to date, with no cap on participation by 2013. Vouchers have shown success and are poised to become more and more common in the coming years.

Voucher programs are expanding, but special education still receives priority: The John M. McKay Scholarships for Students with Disabilities Program, put into statewide practice in 2000, provided vouchers to 27,040 students with disabilities in 2013-14 with a total expenditure of $168,890,916.. These students are most in need and receive more direct assistance.

Are Choice Scholarships Programs Constitutional?

The strongest critics of choice scholarship programs claim that they violate the First Amendment (establishment of religion) if dollars are used for religiously affiliated schools. The First Amendment provides freedom of religion, not freedom from religion. Choice scholarship programs let parents choose where to direct their children’s education funds. The state is not imposing religion upon its citizens (a concern of the Founding Fathers), nor does offering parents the choice of a religious education for their children substantiate federal funding of religious institutions. As Clint Bolick, Vice President for Litigation at the Goldwater Institute observes:

All credible contemporary school choice proposals are constitutional.[Contemporary school choice programs] do not propose subsidizing religious schools, but merely include such schools within the range of educational options made available to a neutrally defined category of beneficiaries (usually economically disadvantaged families). No public funds are transmitted to religious schools except by the independent decisions of third parties. As the U.S. Supreme Court repeatedly has affirmed, such “attenuated financial benefit[s], ultimately controlled by the private choices of individual[s]“…are simply not within the contemplation of the Establishment Clause’s broad prohibition.

In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Cleveland, Ohio school choice program, ensuring that laws returning parental stewardship of state educational funds for their children will not be overturned at the federal level.

Wouldn’t it Be Better To Put More Money Into the Existing School System Instead?

The “money issue” is politically charged and requires careful consideration and clarification. Many fiscal issues, from labor contracts to program mandates, are more a function of larger systemic barriers than of money, so increasing or tinkering with funding will likely do nothing to resolve perpetually mediocre education systems. In the last few decades, spending on K-12 public education has grown substantially without improving academic achievement. Expenditures have increased from $162 billion in 1982 to nearly $543 billion in the 2009-10 school year. The United States spent a higher percentage of its GDP on education than Italy, France Hong Kong, Canada, the Netherlands, or the UK in 2007 (the last year that official data is available).

Meanwhile, national indicators of academic progress have been disappointing. National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) scores have shown little overall improvement for students aged 17 since 1971. According to the 2012 PISA report, students in the U.S. scored only in the “average” category in reading, below countries like Finland, Canada, Japan, and Poland. In science categories, the U.S. is trailing Slovenia. Twenty-seven countries outperformed the U.S. in science literacy. Thirty-five jurisdictions outperformed the U.S. in mathematics. Twenty-three jurisdictions outperformed the U.S. in reading. Eighteen countries outperformed the U.S. in all three subjects. While money is important, America’s educational performance over the last few decades shows that “more money” is not the solution to our nation’s educational problems.


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 $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!

LEARN MORE

National charter schools week

National Charter Schools Week: How We’re Celebrating Amazing Charter Schools

It’s the beginning of National Charter Schools Week and what better way to celebrate than to share some amazing charter school stories and images from our 2019 Charter School Honor Roll! We were blown away by the inspiring, not-enough-positive-words-to-say-about-them, submissions for this year’s Charter School Honor Roll. Selecting just 30 winners out of the hundreds of submissions across the five categories was no easy task, to be sure. This blog post hopefully pays homage to just some of the amazing submissions that we’ve received from across the country.
Note: The photos below are in no particular order, just a compilation of some of the great photos that were sent in with submissions. And, for the sake of brevity, the submission excerpts below may not be the submission in its entirety.



Charter School Honor Roll


Charter School Growth

Kenner Discovery Health Sciences Academy, Louisiana

In its first year of operation the school welcomed 420 students in grades PreK-3rd, 5th, and 6th. Now, in its sixth year, the school has a bustling student body of 1,536 students in PreK-11th grade. Since its opening Discovery has had an active wait list of over 1,000 students.
~2019 Honor Roll Winner: School Growth

Towpath Trail High School, Ohio

Towpath Trail High School is dropout recovery high school located in Akron, OH. It is managed by Oakmont Education and served just over 100 students in 2012. Towpath recently opened a satellite campus and now serves just under 500 opportunity youth across its two locations. Towpath also recently opened a career tech wing where students can earn industry credentials in the fields of Healthcare, IT, Construction, and Manufacturing. Oakmont and the school have partnered with Habitat for Humanity and the construction students have just begun work on building a new house in the community that when complete, will go to an under-resourced local family. Academically, the school has met standards on Ohio LRC and has grown its number of graduates each of the past 6 years. And the school’s growth has allowed the board to purchase both buildings. Towpath is making a difference in the lives of hundreds of students who are the definition of “at risk” and they’re making a difference in the Akron, OH community. They’re doing this by providing a safe environment with a multitude of wraparound services, helping students earn a high school diploma that most think is out of reach, and by offering industry credential career tech pathways in high need fields that provide opportunities for jobs paying living wages immediately upon graduation.
~2019 Honor Roll Winner: School Growth



Charter School Leadership

Mission View Public Charter, California

Principal Berry has demonstrated leadership and vision geared toward increasing student learning through academic integrity. She does not want her students to simply “get through” their courses, she wants them to grow through their coursework. This is evident through policies and procedures she has put into place to ensure academic integrity.
~ 2019 Honor Roll Winner: School Leadership

Amana Academy, Georgia

Mr. Ehab Jaleel, has shown a dedication to not only his students and staff but also to the greater community. They are actively looking to replicate their model (Number 1 STEM Certified K-8 School in Georgia) to offer their model in underserved areas of Metro Atlanta.
~2019 Honor Roll Winner: School Leadership

Compass Charter School, California

Compass Charter School Leadership is built from a team. Of hard-working, inspirational and highly capable leaders. Amir three years ago the school was on the verge of closing. One of the board members, Jay Luis, took over as CEO and has turned the organization around closing underperforming campuses and increasing enrollment substantially. JJ Lewis and compass charter schools could be equally nominated for growth and strong leadership. In fact, it is difficult if not impossible to grow a school without strong leadership. I have had the pleasure in the honor of working with JJ for the last few months and find that he had he is compassionate and empathetic but also drives a hard bargain. Compass leadership is the type of leadership that is always a joy to work with.
~2019 Honor Roll Winner, School Leadership



Positive Charter School Climate

The Bronx Charter School for Better Learning, New York

BBL has developed an inclusive community and culture that contribute to an exemplary school climate of scholarship, connection and high achievement. Productive relationships lie at the center of all action where the school fosters trust and gratitude filled relationships between staff within their schools, across locations and also with neighbors within co-located space. Knowing that learning, progress and development do not occur in spaces of discomfort, BBL goes above and beyond to ensure their staff and students are happy.
~ 2019 Honor Roll Winner, Positive School Climate

Pine Springs Preparatory Academy, North Carolina

At Pine Springs Preparatory Academy, teachers have their students work both collaboratively and individually in the classroom, promoting teamwork, as well as independence. With an unwavering respect for discipline, the PSPA classroom is very demanding yet vastly rewarding.” When asked about Pine Springs, students respond that the school provides project-based learning experiences, a safe learning environment, discipline and rigor. The school gives them opportunities and is focused on relationships. Pine Springs teaches students to have ownership and be critical thinkers in a global world. The mayor of the town shared at a ceremony that Pine Springs is the only school in town he does not get complaints about which is a direct result of a positive school climate and the heart each staff member gives to such an amazing school.
~ 2019 Honor Roll Winner, Positive School Climate



Community Service

Early College High School, Delaware

HIA works hard throughout the year to “multiply good” through its participation with the Jefferson Awards’ Students in Action program. This past school year, HIA has completed multiple service projects. It’s Hoops for Hurricanes in October raised funds for an Early College HS in South Carolina where many of the students were negatively impacted by the hurricane. In addition to collecting donations, HIA organized a basketball tournament where many in the ECHS community participated or helped out. HIA has also raised funds for Delaware Coalition for Prostate Cancer through a “No Shave November” fundraiser, collected cans for the Delaware Food Bank, volunteered with the Special Olympics’ State Bowling Tournament, helped promote other organizations’ fundraisers like Wreaths Across America and Rock Your Socks, and also organized a Candygram sale for Valentine’s Day. The proceeds from the Candygram sale fund the HIA care package project to benefit Shepherd Place, a family homeless shelter in Dover, DE.
~ 2019 Honor Roll Winner, Community Service

Leadership Prep School, Texas

Leadership Prep School (LPS) empowers students to be servant leaders. Teachers and students have both taken the initiative to create community service projects. Each year, LPS computer science high school students raise money to purchase computer parts, build desktop computers from scratch, and donate the computers to “make an authentic impact.” For the past two years, students have chosen Computer for the Blind as their charity. The unemployment rate for blind people is 63%, so many cannot afford computers. Donating 17 computers provides online access to individuals who were otherwise disconnected because of blindness. This past fall, seventh-grade math/science students from LPS used their project-based learning assignment to raise $1500 to battle childhood cancer. The students worked in teams and used math ratios, business math and chemistry to create the best slime to sell at the school carnival. They donated $1500 raised from the sale of the slime to Team Connor whose mission it is to raise funds for childhood cancer research and inpatient programs. A team of fourth graders pitched the idea of a buddy-to-buddy peer mentoring program where fourth graders would partner with two to three kindergarten or first-grade students to help them with English / Language Arts learning. LPS elementary principal, Michelle Creamer, said that when the students approached her with their idea, she provided them with guidance and suggestions, but ultimately she left the coordination and implementation of the project to them. LPS Fourth-grader pitched a service project idea to his teachers, principal, and classmates after his family contributed to World Vision to purchase farm animals to provide food and income and help build sustainable communities across the globe. With his classmates, they launched a school-wide fundraiser and exceeded their goal of raising $2720 to purchase 28 farm animals in less than three weeks.
~2019 Honor Roll Winner, Community Service



Charter School Student Achievement

Signature School, Indiana

Signature School, Indiana’s first charter high school founded in 2002, focuses its International Baccalaureate (IB)-based curriculum on fine and performing arts, science, technology, mathematics and the liberal arts. Signature, an open-admission high school, believes all students, given proper support, are best served by high expectations. All, regardless of GPA or test scores, are expected to be IB diploma candidates. In May 2018, 361 Signature students sat for 999 Advanced Placement (AP) exams. 198 Signature students were designated AP Scholars by College Board in recognition of their exceptional achievement on the AP exams. 89% of seniors participated as IB diploma candidates. Signature continues to expand student achievement opportunities, becoming an AP Capstone school in 2018. All students take AP Seminar and AP Research courses; all are eligible to earn the Capstone Diploma. The Class of 2018 included three National Merit Finalists and six Commended Scholars, roughly 14% of the total graduating class. 92% received the Indiana Academic Honors Diploma. This class also collectively performed 7,894 hours of community service and generated $22.6 million in scholarship offers. Beyond the classroom, Signature’s participation in national science fairs continues to grow. Two sophomores participated in the Intel International Science Fair in Pittsburgh. Another advanced to round two in the highly competitive American Mathematics Competition for the second year in a row. Signature’s success has been consistently recognized by respected national publications. The Washington Post ranked Signature the third Most Challenging High School in the nation, and US News and World Report ranked Signature the 17th Best High School nationally. Thank you for the opportunity to nominate Signature School, which consistently exemplifies student achievement through its emphasis on rigor and excellence in academics, the arts, integrated technologies and community service.
~2019 Honor Roll Winner, Student Achievement

RISE, Colorado

At RISE, we address social injustices while valuing scholar identity through innovative planning and “empathy” interviews. As a college prep school, we serve all scholars whether gifted, Emerging Bilingual, scholars with Individual Education Plans (IEP) and/or scholars in our Multi-Intensive center. Therefore, the category of “Student Achievement” looks different at each level, but one thing that remains true for all scholars is experiencing achievement that is meaningful. Examples of scholar achievement at RISE include (but are not limited to): an outstanding 11th grader winning the Marshall-Brennon Moot Court Competition and heading to the national competition in D.C. while his peer, a member of the Colorado Youth Congress, will be speaking with Denver’s new superintendent about important issues facing our community. One of our oldest scholars, who has an IEP, completed necessary coursework to begin his alternate path to graduation, which included securing part-time employment; he is also the lead in the school musical. One scholar testified at the Colorado State Capitol on HB-1032 and then weeks later won 2nd Place at the State Speech Championships. An unmotivated scholar has made tremendous progress in controlling his explosive anger by practicing coping skills and has even started encouraging his peers to find better paths when they fall off-track. A young woman scholar in our Multi-Intensive center informed staff about what she felt was a violation of her personal space and comfortability and, in a formal meeting, advocated to get her schedule changed to feel safe at school again. Two other speech & debate scholars took 2nd place in Duo and Drama at State in our very first year in CHSAA. Finally, a small group of 11th graders partnered with their teacher and principal to co-create a new course entitled Life 101 where scholars earn civics & economics credits via real-world simulations.
~2019 Honor Roll Winner: Student Achievement


To see the complete list of this year’s winners, click here!

And be sure to join in the National Charter Schools Week conversations! Our team will be following along and featuring some of the happenings and activities on our social channels including FacebookTwitterInstagram, and LinkedIn.

Don’t forget to use the hashtags #WeLoveCharterSchools #CharterSchoolsWeek


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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School Choice

What Are the Barriers to School Choice?

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published here, on December 13, 2018 by Education Dive and written by Amelia Harper. It shares the results from a study on school choice, pinpointing some of the key barriers to providing school choice options for students and their families. Transportation and enrollment issues are among the top barriers.
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.


Transportation, enrollment issues create barriers to school choice, study says

Dive Brief:

  • Roughly 145,400 students in Colorado — or 16% of all students in the state — used their school choice option to attend traditional public schools other than the one normally assigned, while 13% of students in the state attend charter schools, according to a new report, “Open Doors, Open Districts,” which examines the use of school choice and open enrollment in Colorado, Chalkbeat reports.
  • Families who use school choice options in the state are more likely to be white and in the middle or upper socioeconomic class, as transportation is one barrier for school choice options for lower-income families who can’t afford the time and cost of transporting students. Another major obstacle is lack of information and confusion over enrollment as deadlines for paperwork to schools varies greatly within the state.
  • The report recommends that the state and school districts create more enrollment consistency between districts, provide better information to parents (especially non-English-speaking families) about schools and the enrollment process, and remove barriers to transportation. However, some Democratic lawmakers and school districts are concerned that addressing the transportation issues would create a scenario where larger, wealthier districts would seek to “poach students.”

Dive Insight:
Wealthier families have always had more options when it comes to school attendance. Wealthier people can afford private schools with good reputations, can transport their children to school themselves, and can afford to move to school districts with better schools, if they choose to enroll their children in public schools. The growth of school choice was an attempt to level the playing field for less financially fortunate families and, to some degree, it has helped. Vouchers, though controversial, are another way some states are seeking to make school options more accessible to all families. However, there are still obstacles that need to be addressed, as this new report notes.
One of the issues noted in the article is the confusion over the enrollment process. Some larger cities, including Denver and New Orleans, have been experimenting with a common enrollment process that has eased the pain for some families. The process is designed to help families explore many options in one place and to match students with schools that are appropriate for their needs. Transportation is another barrier for families, especially in rural communities without a mass transit system. Most states don’t require that charter and private schools offer transportation, though some do offer limited transportation options as a way to attract students. Online public schools are another way to address the issue, but this method of instruction does not work for all students.
As families gain more school choice options, many public schools are left with new challenges. Since many private and charter schools don’t offer extensive services for special needs students, traditional public schools are often left with a larger proportion of special needs students in their schools. They also tend to have greater numbers of English learners for the same reason. States need to find ways to help address these issues as well, not only through additional funding, but also by considering how the increased percentage of students with additional needs affects school performance scores as parents compare them with other school choices.


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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National School Choice WeekNational School Choice Week is Only One Week Away!

National School Choice Week (NSCW) is coming January 20-26th, and we want to make sure you’re up-to-date on all the cool happenings so you don’t miss a thing!  

What is National School Choice Week?

Not familiar with NSCW? This inspiring week recognizes all K-12 options, including traditional public schools, public charter schools, public magnet schools, private schools, online academies, and homeschooling. It’s the world’s largest annual celebration of opportunities in education that includes over 10,000 independent events. It’s a nonpartisan, non-political, independent public awareness effort that’s not associated with any legislative lobbying or advocacy efforts.
Every child deserves a bright future. Having school choice simply means that parents are empowered to select the best possible educational experience and learning environment for their unique child’s individual needs—helping them thrive!

Join the Conversation!

Make sure to join the conversation all next week with Charter School Capital, as we share stories and quotes about school choice on Facebook, Twitter, and on LinkedIn. Follow all the school choice week festivities, events, and conversation using the #schoolchoice and #SCW hashtags.

Learn More

There are so many events going on across the country next week, that we can’t list them all here; but if you’re interested in finding a National School Choice Week activity in your area check out this state-by-state map to see what’s happening near you! We’d also love to hear what you’re doing to celebrate the week. Leave us a comment below.
Have a great #schoolchoice week!

 

Texas Charter SchoolsWhat is the State of Texas Charter Schools?

In this CHARTER EDtalk, we were fortunate to be able to sit down with Amanda List from A List Consulting to learn more about the Texas charter school landscape.
Amanda has extensive state government affairs and public charter school experience including strong ties to the Texas Capitol and the Texas Education Agency. She is currently working with the Texas Charter School Association Advocacy Team and the elected member advocacy committee as the association prepares for the next Texas state legislative session in 2019.
Listen as she shares the state of Texas charters with regards to the application process, the three strikes rule, and some amazing success Texas charters are seeing due to the state’s rigorous oversight. The transcript can be found below the video.



Janet Johnson (JJ): Welcome to the next CHARTER ED talk. We are at the National Charter School Conference in Austin, Texas where it’s nice and muggy. We have Amanda List from Alist Consulting who has specialized in charter schools for quite a while and she’s here to answer some questions about specifically Texas. And Ryan Eldridge from Charter School Capital will be assisting and asking the questions of Amanda.
Ryan Eldridge (RE): Thank you, Janet.
JJ: Good morning.

Why do you love charter schools?

RE: Good morning. So Amanda, we’re actually here at the National Charter School Conference as one of the main sponsors and we’re doing a campaign called “We Love Charter Schools”. What is it about charter schools that you love?”
Amanda List (AL): What I love about charter schools is that not every child learns the same. Charters give options for kids. In Texas—and I’m not familiar with other states obviously as I am with Texas.
In Texas, we have different missions and different styles of charters. So, we have the high performing charters which you’ve heard of (IDEA Public Schools and Harmony Schools, etc.). Those are considered our college prep schools. And then you have schools that focus on dropout recovery, credit recovery. Then you have some schools that focus on elementary science, etc.
What I love about it is allowing kids these options that they have because again not everyone learns the same. And it’s personal for me because I went to private school and it was not a model that I learned on. I just didn’t learn. I struggled through school to a point where I graduated high school, I didn’t think I was smart enough to go to college. Going to college and having that direct teach changed my life and I graduated on the Dean’s list.
So it’s very personal for me because I don’t want a child to be struggling in school. Not because they’re not smart which is not the method that they learn, so that’s why. I know that’s a long response, but that’s fine.

The Texas charter school landscape

RE: Can you give us an overview of the Texas charter school landscape?
AL: Yes. Currently, there are 675 charters in Texas. There are 185 operators and so sometimes these two numbers confuse people. So in Texas, you have an agreement with the state and then with that, you can have multiple campuses. So there are 675 charters serving more than 272,000 students with a wait list of about 140,000. So definitely, there is a demand for more charters here in Texas.

What is the “three strikes and you’re out rule”?

RE: What is this “three strikes and you’re out” mean for charters?
AL: Three strikes and you’re out was back in our legislative session of 2013. We had a huge bill passed, Senate Bill 2. It was a huge reform bill. So Senate Bill 2 put the teeth into closing poor performing charters and in that, also created the three strikes and you’re out rule. So three strikes and you’re out means that if you fail the financial ratings which is School First here in Texas or accountability, either of those three, in three consecutive years, then the Commissioner of Education will close you.


Editor’s Note: During the 83rd legislative session, the Texas Education Code was amended to include a statutory provision for the revocation of charter schools that failed to meet academic or financial accountability for the three preceding school years. The law states that failure to meet these standards will lead to mandatory revocation of a school’s charter.
Through that, it really got a lot of teeth into closing bad charters. We are all advocates of choice and we’re all advocates of quality schools, but as you know, there are some people out there that are not running quality schools.


There has been some pushback since that of “Wait a minute. There should be a little bit of lead room in there.” I can see it both ways, but for now, it stands as three strikes and you’re out. So, I think it’s one of the most strict laws in the nation when it comes to closing poor performing schools.
On getting Texas charter schools authorized
RE: Absolutely. And we’ve heard you have a rigorous application process. Can you describe that for us?
AL: Yes. Also in Senate Bill 2, it changed the way that charters were authorized in Texas. As advocates for Texas charters, we want the process to be rigorous. We just don’t want anyone to get a charter. But at the same time, it’s kind of gone to the extreme in that it’s almost so rigorous now and there is a bias towards out-of-state charters coming into Texas.
I’ve actually just completed a paper with Excellence In Education and we’ve covered this topic on how do we look at the Texas landscape and what are the policies that we can put in place to attract the out-of-state performers coming in and then also just attract folks locally or throughout Texas to start schools. But for right now, the process. The application easily 5-700 pages in length and takes months to complete.

Texas charter school success

RE: Now, we’ve also heard you have some of the best charters in the nation. Is that because of all the rigor?
AL: Yes. I think so and just us being Texans, so we’re pretty proud of ourselves. There’s that. But we do. We have seriously some of the best charters that U.S. and World News Report just came about a month ago or so and– up in Round Rock, Texas – Meridian World Charter School was ranked sixth in the nation when it comes to the best high schools.
And, over 70 Texas charters either received the Silver or Gold rankings. So we are very proud of the success that we’re having here in Texas.
RE: Well, now that sounds really great Amanda. Thank you very much for coming today. We really appreciate you sitting down with us.
AL: Thank you both for having me.
JJ: Thank you. It’s been great.


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 $1.6 billion in support of 600 charter schools that educate 800,000 students across the country. For more information on how we can support your charter school, contact us. We’d love to work with you!

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Charter School ExpansionHow Is Charter School Expansion Challenging the Status Quo?

This video was originally published here by PragerU. It asks the question if every other sector of the American economy has the opportunity to benefit from the ability to compete and improve, why not the education sector? And, is it unfair to hold minority parents and students hostage in underperforming public schools? Overall, charter school expansion has provided an entrepreneurial challenge to the status quo and delivered results that make it worth continuing to expand this educational option for parents.
Our mission is to see continued charter school expansion, the overall growth of the charter school movement, and more students better served by having educational choice. 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 post that we curate—both interesting and valuable. Please watch the video and read the transcript below to learn more.

Are Charter Schools Better Than Traditional Public Schools?


Historically, education in the United States has been split between private schools and traditional public schools. However, this dynamic changed in 1991 when Minnesota passed the first law establishing charter schools in the state. Since then, a majority of states have some kind of charter school system. But what exactly is a charter school?

What are Charter Schools?

• Charter schools offer education ranging in grades K through 12 without charge to students.
• Charter schools are funded with tax dollars but are generally subject to fewer rules and regulations than traditional public schools and they usually receive less public funds per pupil than public schools.
• Charter school students typically take the state required standardized tests as public school students.
• Depending on state law, these schools can be started by parents, teachers, nonprofit groups, corporations or even government organizations.
• Charter schools may focus on specific skills and subjects like math or science or may be aimed at students who require alternative learning methods such as teaching lessons that use visual or more hands-on approaches.
But these entities just can’t start one whenever they please. They must first obtain authorization from either the school district, city or state, depending on how the charter school laws are structured. And the charter school model has achieved various levels of success.

Charter School Expansion

Over the past 25 years, the number of charter schools in the US has skyrocketed, forcing more competition and faster improvement among existing public and private schools. As of 2016, there are almost 7,000 charter schools serving three million students and since 2000, charter school enrollment has increased by 600%.
But as charter schools have become more popular, opposition has grown. Teacher unions and other public school activists argue that charter schools take money away from traditional public schools. However, it’s unfair to hold minority parents and students hostage in underperforming public schools.
Challenging the Status Quo
Overall, charter schools have provided an entrepreneurial challenge to the status quo and delivered results that make it worth expanding this option for parents. According to a 2015 Stanford study, not only do charter schools provide significantly higher levels of growth in math and reading for all students, but minority and low-income students benefit disproportionately more.
Charter schools are becoming a bigger part of the US education system every year and for millions of American families, they offer a much-needed choice that’s different than a one size fits all public school.
Every other sector of the American economy has benefited from the ability to compete and improve, why not education?


Since the company’s inception in 2007, Charter School Capital has been committed to the success of charter schools. We provide growth capital and facilities financing to Charter School Capital logocharter schools nationwide. Our depth of experience working with charter school leaders and our knowledge of how to address charter school financial and operational needs have allowed us to provide over $1.6 billion in support of 600 charter schools that educate 800,000 students across the country. For more information on how we can support your charter school, contact us. We’d love to work with you!

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National School Choice Week2018 National School Choice Week Wrap Up

With over 32,000 events and rallies of every size taking place from coast to coast, the 2018 National School Choice Week did not disappoint!  The rally cry reached far and wide … and it had a very clear message—educational opportunities and choices for our children should never be limited. We all deserve the freedom to choose whether traditional public schools, public charter schools, private schools, online schools, or home schools are right for our students’ individualized needs.
The issue of school choice appears to be quite polarizing in today’s tumultuous political climate. But, according to a new poll from the American Federation for Children, school choice is highly prized by parents and voters. Fully 63 percent of likely voters support school choice, including a majority of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents. Support for public charter schools is even higher, at 72 percent. I’d say that’s wide-ranging support.
That support was certainly evident this week. Donning their bright yellow scarves with pride, students, their teachers, school leaders, families, and communities enthusiastically and passionately danced, sang, and spoke at capitol buildings, universities, public squares, libraries, museums, schools, and other public areas across the country. And, at the University of Las Vegas in Nevada, more than 2000 people gathered together to celebrate school choice! Now that’s an impressive show of school-choice allegiance! Take a look at other highlights from this year’s events here. Want a reason to smile? Take a look at some fantastic highlights and adorable videos from some of those singing and dancing students!
Charter School Capital was thrilled to be a part of the conversation and watch the hashtag #schoolchoice jump to a top-trending hashtag this week! We believe that it’s important to shine the spotlight on effective schools, educational options, and empowerment not only during National School Choice Week but every week of the year. And it’s our commitment to do just that.
Together, we can keep that conversation going. Tell us how you celebrated National School Choice Week 2018 and use the hashtags #WeLoveCharterSchools and #SchoolChoice! Find us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.