Introduction Facility Development Needs Assessment Site Selection Construction/ Renovation Financing Timeline Glossary Bibliography Appendix A Appendix B Appendix C Appendix D Appendix E		Finding and preparing a charter school facility can be one of the most daunting aspects of starting a charter school. It is often a frustrating and time-consuming process. Many charter schools feel they lack the in-house expertise to make smart facility choices. The purpose of this manual is to help charter schools navigate the facility development process. Hopefully the information and suggestions offered here will provide charter school operators with some of the expertise they lack. The goal is to make the facility development process smoother and to eliminate some of the surprises many operators have faced along the way. We hope this manual will be useful to charter schools just starting, as well as those that are going through the facility development process for a second or third time. Even the most experienced real estate developers learn something new each time they work on a project. We hope this manual can assist every stage of charter school facility development by laying out a framework for the process. The worksheets at the end of each section can be customized to suit a particular school's needs. While this manual tries to point out general issues and proven strategies, charter school operators will need to adapt the concepts to their situations. This manual will try to point you in the right direction. This manual includes the following sections: Section II Section III Section IV Section V Section VI Section VII Section VIII Covers how facility planning fits into business planning for charter schools Reviews a process for assessing your school's facility needs Summarizes how to select a site and comparing those you find Includes an overview of construction and budgeting issues for your facility project Reviews sources of financing for your project Provides a timeline, which can be adapted for your project Offers a glossary of terms to clarify technical issues in the facility development process