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At Work At School

An Afton Partners Blog

All Posts

Finding the Right School Facility and Affording It 

The Context: Inequitable access to quality school facilities  Throughout the country, most charter school organizations obtain permanent school facilities without a supporting tax base, government credit ratings, or full access to available properties.  High-poverty communities and neighborhoods of color have less access to capital and networks of support. This can make the process of opening… Continued

Using Your Charter School Finance Committee for Impact and Sustainability

At a time when many external forces create added financial complexity, school board finance committees can be an invaluable resource for mission impact and long-term sustainability. At Afton Partners, we advise our charter school partners to follow the framework of the “5 Cs” when developing and evolving their organization’s financial governance. The “5 Cs”– Charge,… Continued

Early Childhood Updates from Afton

There has been so much news on early childhood lately that we couldn’t resist adding our own information dump covering Afton’s recent efforts. Some exciting Afton-related early care and education (ECE) updates include: Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker announced a proposal for a new unified early childhood state agency, which represents an important next step for children and families, resulting… Continued

Financial Stewardship in a Time of Elevated Pressures

At Afton, we have been reflecting on the concept of financial stewardship, meaning how charter schools handle resources like money, assets, and talent to enable great outcomes. We believe effective financial stewardship consists of three major pillars:  Enacting your mission through resource allocation,  Protecting your money with controls and governance, and   Making good resource decisions that… Continued