The True Impact of Charter School Capital Funding
At Charter School Capital, we believe in the power of charter schools and their leaders to deliver quality education to families across the country. And we’re proud to provide the reliability and stability charter leaders require as they walk their journey to better educate more students today—and in the future. We were honored to get some of our customers and partners to share with us the true impact of charter school capital funding on their students and schools in this short video.
We are the nation’s leading provider of charter school financing including working and growth capital as well as facilities financing. Over the last 10 years, we’ve put more than $1.7 billion to work for 600+ charter schools educating more than 800,000 students across the country. Not only do we provide funding for charter schools, we also provide strategic planning for growth, financial planning, legislative and state budget insights, charter school resources, and an ongoing commitment to charter schools. To learn how some our clients and partners have been impacted by working with us, take a look at the video. The transcript can be found below.
Intro Speaker 1: I think funding for education, in general, is difficult, but in charter schools, we have some additional problems. One example is the hold-back situation
Intro Speaker 2: For every dollar we’re spending, we’re suddenly only getting sixty cents back during the current year with the promise that next year we’ll pay you back. I mean that was a serious problem for us.
Intro Speaker 3: We’ve made commitments to students, parents, and teachers to provide a high level of education and, unfortunately with the state of the economy and the state of deferrals, we find ourselves having to find different options.
CHALLENGE ACCEPTED…
NOT A BANK
Ricardo Mireles, Executive Director, Academia Avance (RM): Starting the relationship with charter school capital is different from what we have experienced with other financial institutions and that they’re very focusing on the viability of the school going forward relative to the charter.
Frank Stucki, Chairman of the Board, Paladin Academy (FS): They have educators on staff, they understand the process, understand what running the school means, so they were different than any other lender that we had talked to. That was refreshing and important.
Dr. Bill Spira, Executive Director, Augsburg Fairview Academy (DBS): That’s something I think that is probably different with most banks, is that they really haven’t gotten the message that charter schools are a dynamic small business.
Dr. John Biroc, Principal, Charter High School of the Arts (DJB): You know, banks, financial institutions, and that seems to me like an awful lot of work that an awful lot of effort. We have bigger fish to fry. We’re trying to educate kids. And Charter School Capital has always stated to us in one way or another, we believe in you.
FS: Their commitment to the industry of charter schools is that I don’t. I don’t know anybody else out there doing that and that’s very, very important.
A RELIABLE OPTION
Becky Meyer, Executive Director, Academy for Science & Agriculture (BM): I never looked at selling receivables previously. Once I understood what it was and how we were going to guarantee our money, then it became a pretty easy process.
Paul Okaiteye, Director of Business Services, New Design Charter Schools (PO): It’s helped us to stay afloat, to be able to stay in business for our teachers and all the employees to have the confidence that when I go to work I can give my all and know that by the end of the period when I’m supposed to get my check, they will come on time.
DJB: They pay us the money up front and then we have the money to pay our teachers, to buy our textbooks, to keep the place clean, and to keep the whole school running.
Sandro Lanni, Founder & President, Charter School Management Corp. (SL): And there isn’t all the legal compliance once a receivable is sold, it’s sold and that’s it. So, it’s just much simpler, cleaner process and a lot of the other options.
Skip Hansen, Senior Vice President, Learn4Life (SH): Unless somebody is going to create vehicles in order for charter schools to really grow and have access to cash, then I’m going to open my arms up to any investors in any business that is going to make greater opportunities for kids to have more schools, have more books, hire teachers and all the things that we want to do.
DBS: The amount of time you have to spend convincing a skittish banker that you are worth taking the risk, is time you don’t spend focusing on your real needs. And that to me is fundamentally one of the structural values of financing by the sale of receivables. That’s a wonderful model.
A STEADY RELATIONSHIP
Sabrina Bow, Executive Director, New City Public Schools (SB): I view them as a close partner. It’s never been a doubt for me that Charter School Capital is deeply concerned, deeply interested in the well-being of schools.
RM: You’ve been working with charter school capital now for four years. They’ve been flexible, and they’ve been very professional, and they’ve allowed us to stay focused on our students.
Joanna Koenig, Engagement Director, Clifton/Larsen/Allen (JK): The knowledge that it’s a partnership long-term was very, very important. I don’t know how you can run a school when you never know if next year I’ll get that funding or not.
Xavier Reyes, Executive Director, Academia Moderna (XR): They want schools to be healthy financially and otherwise because at the end of the day, who they serve and who we serve are the same people.
PO: They’re very professional. They want to get you what you need.
BM: They spent a lot of time at our school. They got to know staff members. They got to know students and they worked with us. They seem to be proud of our accomplishments as any one of the members of our community would be.
Eric Mahmoud, Founder/CEO, BEST Academy (EM): It was more than just writing us a check. We had a very good relationship during the years that we’ve been using Charter School Capital.
BUILDING ON SOLID GROUND
JK: If we weren’t able to find an organization like charter school capital who was willing and able to provide the funding that we needed, I can’t imagine we would have survived.
PO: They have been a lifeline because they have come through for us at times when we needed it the most. And they have done things in the setting of timing that other institutions have not been able to do.
DJB: We need them. We need them desperately. And I could see where any charter school under these conditions would need Charter School Capital to keep their school alive.
EM: Now, I think it was a good business decision and as a result, we’ve been able to move our children where they need to be academically.
XR: If it wasn’t for charter school capital, we would not be here today. We would not be serving those kids that need it really bad.
SH: I think we’ve served another 2000 students in the last two years because of the availability of cashflow financing. Those are 2000 kids that could on to cure cancer or do something really great in our society.
BM: I think they’re interested in making sure that charter schools are successful and that’s an important piece to me.
EM: Based on all the options that were available to us, Charter school capital was the best option.
Sandro Lanni, Founder & President, Charter School Management Corp.: In the end, that is why we’re all here and the bottom line is if this option was not around, there’d be a lot of kids that would not be able to participate in their local charter school because their local charter school would not be open.
Charter School Capital is committed to the success of charter schools and has solely focused on charter school capital funding since the company’s inception in 2007. Our depth of experience working with charter school leaders and our knowledge of how to address charter school financial and operational needs have allowed us to make a difference to students, schools, and communities across the country. Ask us how we can help your school.
Want to share?
