Resources

This free guide profiles policy interventions from eight states and the District of Columbia that have been developed to help charter schools address various facilities-related challenges.

Charter schools frequently have to secure and pay for their facilities. Many must cover capital costs by diverting funds that were intended for instruction.

The lack of dedicated facilities funding and the effort school leaders must expend to search for and maintain appropriate facilities can take away from teaching and learning. Anecdotal accounts suggest that, due to high facilities costs, a large number of qualified charter schools never even open their doors.

In this guide, you will learn how some jurisdictions have dedicated funding streams to support facilities and how others have helped school operators access relatively low-cost financing to lease, buy, or renovate their buildings. With few exceptions, these “solutions” do not solve the problem entirely, but all of them are intended to alleviate the barriers charter schools face and, perhaps, provide models for change.