| Authorizers Help With the Facilities Challenge |
6/9/04 6:09 AM |
Author:
Mark Cannon
|
 |
With regard to a charter school securing facilities financing, quality authorizing can make a big difference. When trying to secure a loan, risk (real or perceived) is the enemy. The biggest unknown is will the charter school remain viable in the long run. The more transparent an authorizer's approval, oversight, and renewal systems, the less the perceived risk that the lender will awake one day with a surprise (e.g., forced closure).
If such transparency is in place, then lenders and authorizers (and parents, for that matter) are likely to be looking at some of the very same criteria when evaluating a charter school — the viability of a school's governance, management, finances, operations and the level of community support. The quality of education is quite significant, too, though the lender will take less of an independent look at this and rely on the expertise of others (chiefly, the authorizer).
So the lower the overall risk, the more affordable the terms or options that will be available to the school. Unquestionably, securing quality facilities are a major stumbling block for charter schools, but the financial resource options are growing (e.g., loan pools, guaranties, public bonds, credit enhancements, "intercept" mechanisms, leasing of existing public school facilities, per-pupil facilities funding, etc.)
Two up-to-date sources on this topic can be found online ...
Facilities Financing: New Models for Districts that are Creating Schools New
http://www.educationevolving.org/pdf/FacilitiesFinancing.pdf
Building a Foundation for Success: How Authorizers Can Help Schools with the Facilities Challenge
http://www.charterauthorizers.org/files/nacsa/BECSA/IssueBriefNo2.pdf
Posted as a reply to:
Creative Facilites Financing by Gary Fredericks
|
|
