Healthy Competition: Public Charter Schools

ALLIANCE FOR COLLEGE-READY PUBLIC SCHOOLS
www.laalliance.org
The Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools is a nonprofit charter management organization operating 11 public charter schools in the Los Angeles area. The Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools plans to build 20 high-performance small high schools serving more than 8,000 students in Los Angeles over the next few years.

ASPIRE PUBLIC SCHOOLS
www.aspirepublicschools.org
Aspire Public Schools is a nonprofit charter management organization currently operating 21 successful public charter schools, serving over 6,000 students in cities across California. Aspire Public Schools outperform comparable schools on California statewide achievement tests. Aspire plans to expand to 50 schools clustered in urban areas throughout California, and The Broad Foundation supports Aspire’s expansion to 16 schools in the Los Angeles area.

CALIFORNIA CHARTER SCHOOLS ASSOCIATION
www.charterassociation.org
The Broad Foundation invests in the California Charter Schools (CCSA) Association’s efforts to serve public charter schools and their students in California. CCSA’s vision is that 10 percent of the student population in California will attend high-quality public charter schools by 2014. The foundation supports CCSA to help ensure that California’s largest districts comply with providing Proposition 39 quality facilities to public charter schools; and enable CCSA’s work to raise the quality of California’s public charter schools. 

CHARTER SCHOOL GROWTH FUND
www.chartergrowthfund.org
The Broad Foundation supports the Charter School Growth Fund’s (CSGF) Revolving Facility Financing Fund, a $50 million loan pool available to charter schools for facility financing, one of the biggest barriers to growth for these schools. Loans through CSGF are provided at better rates and with faster turnarounds than these organizations could find on their own. The facilities fund is expected to provide between $100 million and $200 million in facilities financing to ventures through the refinancing of loans and the recycling of capital to new lenders over the fund’s 10-year lifetime. CSGF estimates that this fund will create upwards of 20,000 of seats for charter management organizations across the country.

 
CHILDREN’S SCHOLARSHIP FUND OPPORTUNITY SCHOLARSHIPS
http://www.scholarshipfund.org/sccsf/index.html
The Children’s Scholarship Fund is a national organization offering tuition assistance for low-income students to attend private school. In recognition of the severe school facilities crisis facing the Los Angeles Unified School District, The Broad Foundation supports the efforts of the Southern California Children’s Scholarship Fund to provide private education access to low-income families as an alternative to overcrowded district schools.

CIVIC BUILDERS
www.civicbuilders.org
Civic Builders is a nonprofit charter facility developer in New York City that provides affordable facilities for high-quality charter schools. By assuming responsibility for building acquisition, design and construction activities, Civic Builders relieves charter schools of the burden of navigating the complex and competitive New York real estate marketplace, enabling school administrators to focus on operating schools. The Broad Foundation funding provides Civic Builders with necessary equity to purchase buildings that are, in turn, provided to charter schools under favorable financial conditions.

EXCELLENT EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT
www.exed.net
Excellent Education Development (ExED) was awarded New Market Tax Credits from the U.S. Department of the Treasury to be used for the development of public charter school facilities in Los Angeles County. These tax credits, coupled with grant funds, allow ExED to provide below market-rate loans for charter school operators. With The Broad Foundation’s support, five charter schools will receive facility support.

GREEN DOT PUBLIC SCHOOLS
www.greendotpublicschools.org
Green Dot Public Schools is a nonprofit charter management organization currently operating 12 public charter high schools serving more than 4,000 students in the Los Angeles area. Green Dot’s public charter schools consistently outperform comparable schools on California statewide achievement tests and have significantly higher graduation and college-going rates. Green Dot plans to expand to 31 schools serving more than 16,000 students by 2012. In addition, The Broad Foundation is supporting the launch of Green Dot’s newest school in New York, in partnership with the United Federation of Teachers.

HIGH SCHOOL FOR THE VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS
The Broad Foundation supports efforts to bring first-rate opportunities in arts education to Los Angeles students through a world-class high school for the visual and performing arts. The foundation’s investment supports “Discovering the Arts,” a board of community leaders that has partnered with the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) to create and support the arts high school, Central High School #9 in downtown Los Angeles. Discovering the Arts believes that by drawing on the experience, networks, creativity and energy of the board’s artists and community leaders, the arts high school will become not only a vital neighborhood and citywide resource but also a preeminent public arts school in the country. The Broad Foundation’s investment supports Discovering the Arts’ efforts to help the district hire an executive director, assist with construction costs and supplement the school’s operational budget.

ICEF PUBLIC SCHOOLS
www.icefla.org
Inner City Education Foundation (ICEF) Public Schools is a nonprofit charter management organization currently operating 13 schools with over 3,000 students in the Los Angeles area. ICEF’s mission is to transform South Los Angeles into a stable, economically vibrant community by providing first-rate educational opportunities for the students. ICEF provides schools that are results-oriented, run a longer school day and year, and focus on college standards so that all students are ready for college entrance. The Broad Foundation provides support to build a robust home office to assist school growth, ensuring the possibility of strong school openings.

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER PROGRAM (KIPP)
www.kipp.org
The Broad Foundation is a major supporter of KIPP public charter schools, universally recognized for their high-quality, rigorous curriculum and for providing an excellent education to underserved students. The Broad Foundation supports KIPP’s expansion from two to 14 Los Angeles schools and currently supports five new KIPP schools in New Orleans.

KIPP FISHER FELLOWS PROGRAM
www.kipp.org
The Broad Foundation supports the KIPP Fisher Fellows program, one of the most highly competitive charter leadership programs in the country, which trains future leaders to open schools in large urban districts across the country.

NEW ORLEANS:  DEVELOPING A SYSTEM OF HIGH-QUALITY SCHOOLS
www.newschoolsforneworleans.org
www.teachforamerica.org
www.nlns.org
www.kipp.org
The Broad Foundation supports efforts by a set of leading education organizations—New Schools for New Orleans, Teach For America, New Leaders for New Schools and KIPP—to transform public education in New Orleans. These organizations are working in partnership with Louisiana’s Recovery School District to recruit and train high-quality teachers and school leaders and to create new, innovative, high-quality public schools. In addition, the foundation supports the Recovery School District’s efforts to develop a comprehensive strategy to improve public education for students in New Orleans and across the state, including a statewide model to attract, retain and support high quality educational professionals in Louisiana.

NEW SCHOOLS VENTURE FUND
www.newschools.org
The New Schools Venture Fund (NSVF) receives support from The Broad Foundation to invest in the incubation and development of high-quality nonprofit public charter school management organizations across the country. NSVF seeks to accelerate the pace and quality of public charter school growth by supporting the building of accountable, sustainable schools that provide quality public education opportunities for children, families and entrepreneurial educators. By 2015, NSVF expects these newly established charter school management organizations to create over 450 schools serving more than 212,000 students.  

PACIFIC CHARTER SCHOOL DEVELOPMENT
www.pacificcharter.org
Pacific Charter School Development (PSCD) identifies, acquires and develops public charter school facilities that will, in turn, be leased back to academically successful charter school organizations. PCSD provides public charter schools with high-quality, low-cost facility options and gives lenders a less risky alternative to individual school financing. Over the past three years, PCSD has helped develop 8,000 new seats for the highest performing charter schools serving low income students in Los Angeles.

SUCCESS CHARTER NETWORK
www.successcharternetwork.org
Success Charter Network (SCN) is a Charter Management Organization with four schools serving the students of Harlem, N.Y. SCN operates K-5 elementary schools that provide a rigorous curriculum, a longer school day and year, and the appropriate supports so that all students can succeed. In addition to a commitment to running excellent schools, SCN is active in helping all parents advocate for high quality educational opportunities throughout New York City. SCN plans to open 30 to 40 new schools over the next decade.

UNCOMMON SCHOOLS
www.uncommonschools.org
Uncommon Schools, Inc (USI) is a high-performing charter management organization made up of a five philosophically aligned charter networks that provide top-quality urban college preparatory schools in New York City, upstate New York and Newark, N.J. USI has achieved outstanding academic results predicated on their commitment to high standards for academics and character, data-driven decision making, a structured learning environment, and a longer school day and year. The Broad Foundation provides funding for the start up and scale of new USI schools in New York City.

UNITED FEDERATION OF TEACHERS CHARTER SCHOOL INITIATIVE
www.uft.org/chapter/charter/
The Broad Foundation supports the start up of the United Federation of Teachers’ (UFT) first union-run charter schools in New York City. The UFT Elementary Charter School opened its doors in the fall of 2005 with 150 students in kindergarten and first grade, and it will grow one grade per year until it serves students from kindergarten through fifth grade. The UFT Secondary Charter School opened in Fall 2006, serving sixth grade students, and it will add a grade each year until it serves students from grades six through 12.

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