How to Invest in Charter Schools

By dianeravitch

March 7, 2015 //

Categories Education Reform

25 Comments Post your own or leave a trackback: Trackback URL

John says:

March 7, 2015 at 11:02 am

Every school district in the country issues bonds to finance their buildings too.

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- Jon Awbrey says:
  
  March 7, 2015 at 11:06 am
  
  Yeah, but they can’t take the money and run the way Charterbaggers can …
  
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- K Quinn says:
  
  March 7, 2015 at 11:06 am
  
  Public school districts don’t make a profit on their buildings or their rent and go out and buy yachts like the Charter Schools USA chief-fraud.
  http://coralspringstalk.com/charter-schools-usa-founder-sets-sail-for-riches-7217
  
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- Dienne says:
  
  March 7, 2015 at 11:20 am
  
  Right, I get flyers all the time inviting me to invest in public schools.
  
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- Sharon in NYS says:
  
  March 7, 2015 at 1:23 pm
  
  Yes, but those bonds must be approved by the voters first.
  
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Donna says:

March 7, 2015 at 11:10 am

Vomit.

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- Jon Awbrey says:
  
  March 7, 2015 at 11:24 am
  
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ira shor says:

March 7, 2015 at 11:18 am

Says it all. Gates and Co. had to buy up the mass media, the education media, the foundations, the unions, and the PTA to prevent this shameful looting of public schools from getting the public thrashing it so richly deserves. This is why Diane’s blog and social media tools and ground-up opposition from Opt-Out and others are the weapons of necessity for us to defend public schooling.

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Chiara says:

March 7, 2015 at 11:18 am

I’m sure that “one million” number was verified, right?

How come they churn out such specific numbers for the public schools they denigrate yet all the charter promotions sound like marketing?

Is anyone from the USDOE attending? Oh, right, it doesn’t really matter since it’s a revolving door anyway. They just switch chairs and job titles.

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- Steve K says:
  
  March 7, 2015 at 12:10 pm
  
  Of course the number is unverified. Chiara, you are very knowledgeable but we know how the charter waiting list game is played. A family applies to three schools. Their child gets into none of them. The same name appears on three waiting lists. One student = three. Their child gets into one yet remains on the waiting list for the other two. One student equals two and is already in a charter so that student isn’t even “waiting.”
  
  Just add up the total on wait lists. And then don’t let them in the following year when attrition creates available seats. Keeps them on the waiting list for years. With no chance to get in. But over time, the list keeps increasing in size.
  
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Dienne says:

March 7, 2015 at 11:20 am

Somebody should go to this and report back. Someone with a strong stomach.

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mamiawolf says:

March 7, 2015 at 11:23 am

Ummmmm……..we don’t have “blackboards” anymore. That reference is quite dated and an insight into their target audience.

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Chiara says:

March 7, 2015 at 11:25 am

Wouldn’t it be great if public schools had committed passionate advocates like this?

Can we hire some? Maybe we could find the funding by cutting out the useless, potted plant “agnostics” we’re paying to do that job in government.

I want an advocate in government who supports public schools. I don’t think that’s too much to ask.

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debmeier says:

March 7, 2015 at 11:37 am

Amazing. And getting BAs will produce jobs for this huge number???? Is that the impication? Yes. This “distractive” message is going to destroy the country–not just education.

Where does this come from?? « Economists Predict 47% of All Jobs Will Disappear Pennsylvania: Gov. Wolf Proposes Invrease in Education $$$; Republicans Say No »

Oh dear.

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Lloyd Lofthouse says:

March 7, 2015 at 11:38 am

From what I’ve learned in a few minutes, LISC sounds as if it started out as a good idea and then was hijacked along the way. Considering that it started in 1979 before 1983’s A Nation at Risk fraud appeared during the Reagan years, it’s possible that LISC was not intended to be another bomb in the reformer’s arsenal to destroy public education leading to profits and wealth for a few and a substandard, segregated get rich anyway-you-can education system through corporate Charters.

>>>>LISC is a major financier of charter schools nationwide.[21] According to the LA Times, at least a dozen schools in California would run out of money without financing from LISC designed to cover shortfalls in state funding.[22]

21. Shalvey, Don. “A Teaching Moment for the Financial Markets”. Impatient Optimists. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

http://www.impatientoptimists.org/Posts/2013/02/A-teaching-moment-for-the-financial-markets

22. Hiltzik, Michael (April 16, 2013). “State’s Budget Fakery Takes a Toll on Charter Schools”. LA Times.

http://articles.latimes.com/2013/apr/16/business/la-fi-hiltzik-20130416

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- Sharon says:
  
  March 7, 2015 at 2:52 pm
  
  And (August 2011): “Today the U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced a $9.98 million grant to Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) as part of the U.S. Department of Education’s Credit Enhancement for Charter School Facilities Grants Program. The grant will support facilities financing to charter schools nationwide…” http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/secretary-duncan-announces-99-million-charter-schools-grant-local-initiatives-support-corporation
  
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Nancy Letts says:

March 7, 2015 at 1:01 pm

I’d like to go and report back, but I was told registration is closed. Does anyone know how I might get in?

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Guy says:

March 7, 2015 at 1:24 pm

Ah, “Bonds and Blackboards.” What alliteration! It rivals “…hawk from a handsaw” and “The Soul selects her own Society–..” What a quaint notion! It evokes macaroni and cheese, franks and beans, ice cream and apple pie, flotsam and jetsam, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, and, of course, apples and oranges. Does it get any more blatant than this? This advertisement illustrates what Henry Giroux calls “the big lie”: “the myth that the free market system is the only mechanism to ensure human freedom and safeguard democracy” (America’s Education Deficit and The War on Youth). This advertisement is unmitigated codswallop. Other than this, I have one vexing question: How can Gates secure entry to the Harvard Club? Don’t you need to be an alumnus?

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SomeDAM Poet says:

March 7, 2015 at 1:54 pm

“Barry Bonds and Blackboards
Investing in Cheater Schools”

There. Fixed.

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Cecelia says:

March 7, 2015 at 2:59 pm

Well, this motivated me to look into the LISC which provides quite a lot of information via website found just with a google entry. And links to the states and lo and behold major data for central Indiana/Indianapolis. I’ve been feeling so disturbed about the overnight shootings and constant murders in the last several years and the plight of the IPS and state takeovers of their schools. Had witnessed firsthand how the “small schools initiative” of Gates disturbed rather than supported the high schools. But I guess I can relax now that the LISC has got it all under control and coordinating improvement and growth and reconstruction. Looks like Stand for Children and Mind Trust are in their house so all will be well. Who knew. Very spiffy website. No need for concern with this organization in town. Looks like they will manage the NCLB business for the city. All is well. Nothing going on here folks. Move along, nonprofit in action.

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En B. Cee says:

March 7, 2015 at 4:07 pm

“Investing” would seem to imply that those who attend expect a return on investment (ROI) that is more than merely the moral satisfaction of being of service. This attitude is both socially and morally bankrupt.
A number of years ago in CA, there was a ballot initiative that attempted to mandate that 90(?)% of all money given to each district be spent at school sites. It lost, thanks to a huge disinformation campaign by those who stood to lose millions of dollars if it passed.
If ALEC can craft model laws and/or initiatives, why can’t teachers?

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Ken Watanabe says:

March 7, 2015 at 4:25 pm

How to create magical charcoal pits and dump the leftovers on the site of public school facilities. Yuck.

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Sharon in NYS says:

March 7, 2015 at 6:43 pm

Sponsored by money from Harvard’s most famous drop-out. The irony, it burns!

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Laura H. Chapman says:

March 7, 2015 at 11:00 pm

The US Department of Education will be at the charter school “investors” conference, representing you, dear taxpayer, in a scheme to subsidize the financing of charter school facilities that LISC is marketing, along with the Gates and Walton Foundations and a long list of profit seekers investors who get tax credits for doing deals, among other perks.

LISC stands for Local Initiatives Support Corporation, in operation for about 35 years and known mainly as a “partner” in leveraging public and private financing for community development projects. Here is the pitch for the NYC investor’s conference:

“LISC’s education work is focused on the need to create efficient financing sources for charter schools in low-income communities. Charter schools often struggle to cover school facilities costs and therefore must sacrifice competitive teacher salaries, robust extracurriculars, and much needed learning materials.” (Pitch: If we did not have to pay for facilities, we could pay teachers more, buy important stuff, and add some frills).

“Our keynote speakers…. will be Whitney Tilson, co-founder of Democrats for Education Reform and vice-chairman of the Board of Trustees of KIPP NYC and Ryan Hill, executive director of KIPP New Jersey.

“Join us for this one day symposium on charter school credit worthiness. Hear inside perspectives from investors, authorizers, academic experts, nonprofit lenders, rating agencies, and charter school borrowers. Learn and understand the value of investing in charter schools and best practices.”
Here is the program lightly edited, without names.

9:00 am – 10:15 am Morning Keynote Speaker(s) (see above)

10:30 am – 11:15 am. Panelists cite data from LISC’s Charter School Facility Finance Landscape and Bond Study and report on innovative financing mechanisms for facilities. Panelists from Utah State Treasurer’s Office, LISC, Charter School Advisors.

11:20 am – 12:20 pm. Charter school authorizers and lenders assess academic and financial performance. Panelists from SUNY Charter Schools Institute, Self-Help, New Jersey Dept. of Education, Wells Capital Management, New Orleans Parish School Board, National Association of Charter School Authorizers.

2:15 pm – 3:15 pm. Assessing the credit quality of a charter school (e.g. enrollment, financials, relationship with the authorizer, academic quality.) Panelists from Public Impact, Charter School Growth Fund, KIPP New Jersey, Charter Schools Development Corp., EdBuild, LISC.

3:30 pm – 4:30 pm Assessing charter schools from investors’ perspectives.
Panelists from Nuveen Investments, Utah State Treasurer’s Office, Standard & Poor’s, Piper Jaffray, Bank of America, LISC

4:35 pm – 5:30 pm Tools to create a more efficient market, such as: pools, credit enhancement, more state involvement, etc. Trends in borrower characteristics and continued disclosure needs. Panelists from Alliance Bernstein; BB&T Capital Markets; Prudential Financial; US DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION (USDE), Achievement First, Orrick.

Here is why USDE is represented at this conference. USDE operates a State Charter School Facilities Incentive Grant Program. State education agencies may apply for a grant if the state has a law in place authorizing “per-pupil facilities aid” for charter schools. (This is not the first instance of USDE baiting states to change laws so charters are given favorable treatment.)

These USDE facilities grants, available since 2004, are authorized by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (Title V, Part B, Subpart 1, Section 5205B). Awards have averaged $10 million annually, and can be continued at lower levels for up to five years. Under a new authority in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2014, funds may be channeled to preschool education in charter schools.

The marketing schemes championed at this NYC March 10, 2015 conference are designed to put private dollars into “brick and mortar” charter schools with token public support (federal, state), but with ownership of the facilities in the hands of private investors.

Here is the unpublicized caveat.

LISC supports charter and alternative schools, but only in “distressed neighborhoods.” LISC set up its Educational Facilities Financing Center in 2003. This center functions as a national operation to pool funds from low-interest loans, then leverage the funds for charter and alternative school facilities (new or renovated) “for underserved children, families, and neighborhoods.”

Schools financed by private entities and profit-seeking investors are PINOs “public in name only.” By design LISC and its many bundlers of money intend to keep low-income students and their families trapped in distressed neighborhoods, and coincidently, in my opinion, support the segregation that usually defines such neighborhoods. The cover story is all about neighborhood revitalization.

LISC boasts that it has raised millions in grants and loans from the Walton Family Foundation, Prudential Insurance, Bank One, The Boston Foundation, the Broad Foundation, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, CEOs for Fundamental Change in Education, Citibank, City National Bank, Excellent Education Development, the Indianapolis Local Public Improvement Bond Bank, the Indianapolis Mayor’s Charter Schools Office, the Low Income Investment Fund, the Massachusetts Charter School Association, the Massachusetts Department of Education’s Charter School Office, the Massachusetts Development Finance Agency, Prudential Insurance, Wells Fargo,

and…. you—courtesy of Congress and the U.S. Department of Education. Learn more at http://www.lisc.org/section/ourwork/national/education

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jcgrim says:

March 11, 2015 at 9:59 am

LISC is the vehicle for financiers to play liars poker and keep the money within their circle. DoEd is the casino rigging the game.

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