Let's start a charter middle school

[Anonymous]

Building Hope is technically a nonprofit but borrows money at 2% and then makes loans to charters for 7-9%.

[Anonymous]

Creative River Turtles Inspiration World

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Building Hope is technically a nonprofit but borrows money at 2% and then makes loans to charters for 7-9%.

Holy shit really?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Building Hope is technically a nonprofit but borrows money at 2% and then makes loans to charters for 7-9%.

Holy shit really?!

On average yes.

To be fair a new charter isn't a very good credit risk for a bank - as they have no lines of credit etc. And Building Hope has expertise and contacts which are helpful. But they have overhead and their own organization and offices and staff to support.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Throwing out a name idea and some key concepts:

Le Petit Village

100% French Dual Immersion
French Language Arts
Singapore Math
Montessori Approach
Elegance
Excellence
Discipline
Prestige

You forgot rigor.

And Executive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think OP is naive to think you can make money with a middle-school only model. That's just three years, hardly time to instill a culture, block out the poors, etc.

You need to reach up (to HS) or down (to ES) to build a truly sustainable HRCS

If you want to make money at tax payer expense then you're looking at the wrong line of work. You need to be a contractor bidding on renovation projects for DCPS, in the pocket of the Mayor. That's where the real money is.

The people who really make money off of DC's charters are financiers. They finance and cashflow startup and facilities, then get to capture the per-head facilities allocations.

Please, tell me more about how lending against future income works. I don't think I understand it. Sounds very lucrative.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think OP is naive to think you can make money with a middle-school only model. That's just three years, hardly time to instill a culture, block out the poors, etc.

You need to reach up (to HS) or down (to ES) to build a truly sustainable HRCS

If you want to make money at tax payer expense then you're looking at the wrong line of work. You need to be a contractor bidding on renovation projects for DCPS, in the pocket of the Mayor. That's where the real money is.

The people who really make money off of DC's charters are financiers. They finance and cashflow startup and facilities, then get to capture the per-head facilities allocations.

Please, tell me more about how lending against future income works. I don't think I understand it. Sounds very lucrative.

And tell me who these financiers are so I can become one of them. Sounds like they do nothing and take on no risk and get paid handsomely for it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Building Hope is technically a nonprofit but borrows money at 2% and then makes loans to charters for 7-9%.

Holy shit really?!

You do realize that this is what all banks and credit unions do, right? Bank of America "borrows" money from it's depositors at a rate of essentially zero (or gets it from the Fed at short term rates near zero), and then does longer term lending at higher rates.

[Anonymous]

^^ Yep. Except DCPS doesn't pay the same interest rate to some entity because it comes from bonds the city issues.

Just another reason why the way charters have to finance facilities puts them at a disadvantage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^ Yep. Except DCPS doesn't pay the same interest rate to some entity because it comes from bonds the city issues.

Just another reason why the way charters have to finance facilities puts them at a disadvantage.

Actually, charters can have the city issue tax exempts bonds on their behalf. But the rates are definitely higher because they are not backed by the full faith and credit of the DC government.

But yes, charters are at a major disadvantage. If they upped the facilities fee to the equivalent amount DCPS uses it would more than double. Then you would have charters with actual gyms and cafeterias.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the correction and clarification. I don't think enough people understand this stuff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the correction and clarification. I don't think enough people understand this stuff.

It is pretty niche, admittedly. And the vast majority of people have no understanding of how most finance works.

In general, the charter world in DC is much more rigorous than most other places because the PCSB actually monitors charters. In many states there are multitudinous charter authorizers, many of whom really have no idea what they are doing and literally just keep files without any real oversight.

Some obvious mistakes notwithstanding, of course (the CFO who was being paid off by Options, etc). But that stuff happens everywhere, inside government and outside.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^ Yep. Except DCPS doesn't pay the same interest rate to some entity because it comes from bonds the city issues.

Just another reason why the way charters have to finance facilities puts them at a disadvantage.

And another example of republicans essentially privatizing education - siphoning public money to banks but making it *look* like its going to schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^ Yep. Except DCPS doesn't pay the same interest rate to some entity because it comes from bonds the city issues.

Just another reason why the way charters have to finance facilities puts them at a disadvantage.

And another example of republicans essentially privatizing education - siphoning public money to banks but making it *look* like its going to schools.

Oh my God, you have no idea what you are talking about. That's like saying your mortgage is money being "siphoned" to banks. You are paying back a loan, just like these schools are, and just like the DC government does when it issues bonds to finance DCPS improvements and then slowly pays the buyers back, plus interest.

If you don't like lending with interest, you can move to a nation governed by Sharia law. Then you will not have to deal with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^ Yep. Except DCPS doesn't pay the same interest rate to some entity because it comes from bonds the city issues.

Just another reason why the way charters have to finance facilities puts them at a disadvantage.

And another example of republicans essentially privatizing education - siphoning public money to banks but making it *look* like its going to schools.

Oh my God, you have no idea what you are talking about. That's like saying your mortgage is money being "siphoned" to banks. You are paying back a loan, just like these schools are, and just like the DC government does when it issues bonds to finance DCPS improvements and then slowly pays the buyers back, plus interest.

If you don't like lending with interest, you can move to a nation governed by Sharia law. Then you will not have to deal with it.

Point is, it privatizes the financing of education investments. Sure Wall Street makes money off of municipals, but it makes more when there's more collateral (in this case physical properties and cashflows).