Afton Partners

New Hampshire received a record five-year, $46 million federal grant to expand its successful charter schools, Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut announced Thursday. New Hampshire was one of only three states to receive 2019 grants from the Department of Education’s Office of Innovation & Improvement. The grant will cover professional development for charter school staff and board members, and spread best practices to public schools across New Hampshire. There will be $3.3 million available this year; the grant amount ramps up each year and reaches $15 million in 2023.

Despite the charter school tax-exempt bond sector’s record volume for each year between 2012 and 2017, last year’s financing activity ended with a material decrease of 17.1%, at $3 billion, compared to 2017’s volume of just over $3.5 billion.  For most market participants, this bond issuance trajectory reversal was expected due to the acceleration of deals that came to market in late 2017. The substantial 2017 increase in volume was primarily due to a reaction to congressional debate over tax reform that began in earnest in November and was driven by the fear of the loss of authority for private activity bonds (which ultimately did not occur) as well as advance refundings (which took effect on January 1, 2018). The extent of this sector’s 2018 decline, however, was not quite as pronounced as the overall tax-exempt market reduction of 21.6%—a nod to the continued high demand for affordable fixed-rate long-term charter school facility financing. Specifically, charter schools were responsible for 129 distinct transactions in calendar year 2018, totaling just shy of $3 billion of tax-exempt bond issuance. The range in par amount was extraordinarily wide this year—spanning from less than $2 million to over $350 million.

How can it be that some studies find enrollment shifts to charter schools harm district finances, while others seldom find harm and often find benefits to students? The studies look at different outcomes, so it is possible that districts struggle financially but succeed in insulating students from harm. To sort out financial and achievement effects, we need coordinated studies in particular cities, analyzing the effects of charter growth on district finances and tracing these through school funding and instructional practices to effects on students. The question of effects of charter growth on district schools and students is important enough to warrant thorough and objective study: a sample of districts impacted by charter schools with careful review of financial challenges, district responses, consequences for school operations, and student results. But until such studies are done, people with different perspectives will remain in well-established warring camps.

The Center on Reinventing Public Education released three briefs that shed light on the debate surrounding charter schools in California. In short, they conclude that Charter schools are not a major driver of recent enrollment declines in California’s school districts, there is no evidence that charter schools are to blame for school districts entering states of fiscal distress, and charter schools have, according to available evidence, important benefits for California communities and limited costs to the state.

Also see Afton’s five-part blog series “How Districts Can Afford High Quality Schools, Despite Enrollment Decline,” which offers actionable recommendations for school districts facing enrollment loss, with or without charter schools.

Several months ago Robin Lake critiqued a report by Dr. Gordon Lafer and published by In the Public Interest (ITPI)…the report continues to inform policy deliberations in California, where a commission is weighing charter school policy changes and lawmakers are considering a five-year moratorium on new charter schools. Lake outlines methodological concerns with the report which include (among others), the “fiscal impact” analysis’ focus on charter school growth, ignoring the many other causes of district enrollment loss, and the assumption that all students attending charter schools had transferred from a district school.

A new report released today by the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) offers a never-before-seen look at trends in charter school applications, approvals, and denials. The report, Reinvigorating the Pipeline: Insights into Proposed and Approved Charter Schools, reveals a diverse charter sector with a tremendous variety of applicants, educational models, and operator types, as well as the integral role authorizers play in shaping the public education landscape across the country. “More than three million students attend charter schools across the country, but up until now, we knew very little about who and what was being proposed,” said Greg Richmond, NACSA President and CEO. “The data reveals a much more diverse school pipeline than the charter sector is often credited for. We simply don’t see the homogenous sector driven by billionaires and for-profit schools that gets talked about so often.”