Charter School Finance

Uniquely Qualified for Charter School Finance

Today, the charter school movement is at a crossroads. After almost two decades of innovation and advancement, charter schools have established themselves as a major source of educational opportunity for children throughout the United States. Yet, the continued success and expansion of charter schools depends on access to quality facilities.

With few states directly financing charter school facilities renovation and construction, federally-subsidized municipal financing has emerged as an increasingly viable tool to address the charter school facilities financing need.

The Orrick public finance team has been providing sophisticated legal assistance through the myriad of local, state and national laws and regulations to develop financing structures and secure necessary funds for charter schools.

Our leading role as counsel for charter schools is based on the unique combination of five important qualifications.

1. Orrick is the number one ranked bond counsel in the U.S.
2. Orrick has more than $28 billion of experience with school financing
3. Orrick has assisted a wide variety of charter schools in California and the Washington, D.C. area
4. Orrick understands the issues that are specific to charter school financings
5. Orrick has experience developing innovative school bond financings designed to meet unique challenges and achieve a comprehensive range of purposes.

Knowledge of Critical Issues Unique to Charter School Finance

Orrick charter school finance lawyers have years of experience with the many critical issues that must be considered for any charter school finance transaction.

• Management agreements and contracts and the complex tax rules that apply to them when tax-exempt bonds are used
• Organizational structuring issues for growing charter management networks
• Structure to pool cash or credit among multiple community owned or managed charter schools
• Various non-traditional sources of charter school revenues
• Intentional independence provided to charter schools by statute
• Uncertain nature of authority to borrow, contract, and pledge assets
• Evolving credit rating standards
• Limited term of charter
• Nuanced financial status and relative youth of charter school industry

Our book on charter school financing, Charter Schools: Borrowing with Tax-Exempt Bonds is widely perceived as a very useful primer on the subject.

Experience with School Financings for a Variety of Purposes

Orrick has worked on a wide variety of charter school financing projects that are designed to achieve a comprehensive range of purposes, including the financing of teaching specialists, administrative staff, internet access, science laboratories, cafeterias, library facilities and materials, after-school and summer programs, pupil transportation, kindergarten programs, extra-curricular offerings, information technology, athletic and musical opportunities, as well as the construction, repair, renovation and maintenance of buildings and facilities.

Orrick public finance lawyers have handled thousands of public finance transactions, including an increasing number of tax-exempt and tax credit financings for charter schools.

Lawyers on our charter school finance team have assisted, or are assisting, the following charter schools with a variety of financings.

California

• Alliance for College-Ready Public Schools
• Aspire Public Schools
• Escondido Charter High School
• Granada Hills Charter School
• High Tech High School
• Knowledge is Power Program Foundation
• Livermore Valley Charter School
• Pacoima Charter School
• Santa Monica Boulevard Community Charter School
• Vaughn Next-Century Learning Center

District of Columbia

• Community Academy Public Charter School
• D.C. Preparatory Academy
• E.L. Haynes Public Charter School
• Friendship Public Charter School
• Howard Road Academy
• Hyde Leadership Public Charter School
• Two Rivers Public Charter School
• Washington Math Science Technology Public Charter School
• William J. Doar Public Charter School for the Performing Arts
• WVSA/SAIL Public Charter School

In addition, Orrick has served as counsel for conduit financings on behalf of charter schools through the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank for such schools as Fenton Charter School, Orange County School of the Arts, and El Sol Science and Arts Academy.

Our charter school lawyers are also experienced in financing program development for the California School Finance Authority and the California Charter School Association.