The plan, if it works, could bring money to Clovis and Fresno Unified and make the school self-sufficient within a few years, CART officials say. Hill and a class of business graduate students have been working for several months on a plan to market CART to other school districts. The concept of marketing this can transform the education market. CART opened in August 2000 to about 1,300 students and is a joint charter school created by Fresno and Clovis unified districts. Students go to CART on half-day shifts, spending the rest of the day at their home schools.
Classes range from telecommunications to environmental studies.
CART's board of directors took its first step toward marketing the concept at an April 24 meeting by creating a branch of the school that will be dedicated to making money. The company will be similar to the for-profit departments of major universities and colleges across the country, Hill said. The main goal of this branch will be to sell CART, concept and all, to other school districts across the country as franchises. Placing a dollar value on the worth of CART is tricky business, said Jeff Birch, an investment banker from Sanwa Bank, who is helping with the project. Essentially the school will sell its entire idea, from curriculum and lesson plans to technology and building plans, to other schools.