Reply #26: No matter how community oriented or non-profit the Charter, it still needs investment.. [View All]

[haele]

A school district that can support adding a special needs Charter School - that means facility, administration, teachers, teaching resources - has enough money to have good enough public schools that they usually don't need investors.

I've both experienced "Non-Profit" Charter schools and observed the development of them. It doesn't matter if it's Bill Gates or Oprah, or the local VA and Reservist groups gathering together to set up a "Military School Charter" for at risk young men, there is still an Incorporation that is organized to handle the funding, donations, and to justify expenditures for the investors.
These organizations require metrics and standards that the Charter Schools have to live up to, and the majority aren't run by people that actually have education experience other than their own. So the students and teachers still have to deal with "entry and exit criteria", reporting, testing, and more testing to keep the investors happy. Hence, "Money People" end up running the Charter, just like they run the School District - not the teachers, not the parents, not those involved with the welfare of the students.

There are organizations that specialize in seeking out and "helping" communities set up these non-profit Charters.

Don't confuse the need to make investors happy with the "For Profit" designation. There are plenty of S-Corps, holding companies, and LLC's that are involved with "Non-Profit" organizations to handle the operational or investment requirements of those organizations, and they make plenty of money for their Boards and Shareholders...on sliding anywhere from 2 - 25% of handling and maintenance fees off the top of the donations to those "Non-Profits".

Charter Schools serve a purpose, but they aren't a replacement for traditional schooling - especially since they can discriminate when it comes to admissions and teaching methods, and traditional schools can't.

Haele