The document is organized around four major means by which charter schools can meet the facility's financing challenge. The first section addresses financing preparation and provides tools that can help facilities in crafting business, accountability, and facility-development plans. The second section addresses creative ways to accumulate the amount charter schools need to finance. The third section explains how aggressive shopping, exploring low-cost forms of financing, looking for ways to make their deals less risky, and pursuing other strategies can help these schools reduce the interest rates they pay for financing. The fourth section explains how charter schools can improve public policies regarding these facilities, obtain per-pupil revenue for charter schools, and bring about other helpful changes.
Appendices provide sources for additional information.
Assistance provided by Meredith Miller and Joanne Scharer. With financial support from the Kinship Foundation. A Study for the Massachusetts Charter School Resource Center. This paper examines a facility planning model designed to help charter schools maximize their chances of succeeding in the effort to secure permanent facilities. The paper also includes a summary of leading facility financing arrangements currently in use by charter schools, and presents recommendations for enhancing charter school facility financing alternatives to benefit more charter schools and to advise prospective facility financing providers.