What we do
LISC finances building or modernizing school facilities to improve the physical spaces where students and teachers thrive, and communities gather. We also intentionally invest in high quality schools that occupy those spaces. Great K-12 public schools help students reach a level of educational attainment that provides economic opportunity and leads to success in the workforce.
Access to high quality public education and high quality facilities set the foundation for a healthy neighborhood and ensures that people, and not just places, prosper. Unfortunately, this access is not equitable for all families based on their race and class position. In many communities, charter schools are one of the few high-quality public education options. Today, more than 6,700 public schools operate under charters in the United States, educating 2.7 million children, however, one million children remain on charter school waitlists. Building and renovating facilities remains a major hurdle for new and existing public charter schools looking to meet the demand within their communities.
$352 million
invested in charter schools
111,861
school seats funded
Charter school operators have remained committed to overcoming these facilities challenges in order to continue educating children. The expansion of the sector has not kept pace with demand from families and communities. Through the Charter School Financing program, our goal is to ensure access to affordable capital for non-profit charter schools operating in communities that have been historically under-resourced, so that precious public resources can be reserved for use in the classroom.
At Kipp Academy's Douglass Campus in Washington, DC
LISC has supported educational facilities improvements, construction and development since 1997 through our local offices and in 2003, created a national program to finance charter school development across the country. We also conduct research that helps inform policy changes around facilities financing. We partner with the Charter School Lenders’Coalition to disseminate this information. LISC Charter School Financing created SchoolBuild in 2017 to share the sector’s best facility development research with school leaders online. In 2019, SchoolPrint was launched to provide schools with the hands-on technical assistance school leaders need to successfully complete their facility development projects. In partnership with the Racial Equity Collaborative on Education we continue to center racial equity in our work and our assessments of current and future charter school borrowers.
What we believe
All children deserve access to a successful public school in their community. Historically, there has not been equitable access to high-quality public schools because of structural racism and racist policies. The LISC Education team is committed to racial equity in education, especially for Black, Latinx, Asian American, Pacific Islander, Indigenous students, and other students of color.
We fund school construction for high-quality public charter schools that predominantly educate students from families with incomes below the national average. Schools in our portfolio have demonstrated a commitment to meeting community demand for better education options. As part of our commitment, we will continue to educate ourselves and take the internal action necessary to strive towards being an anti-racist organization. We are committed to working with public charter schools that are also doing this work.
To realize our vision:
- we lend money to schools to acquire, build or renovate facilities
- we promote transparency of financing options to help school leaders secure affordable debt
- we influence public policy to lower the cost of capital, keeping more dollars in the classroom
- we consult with racial equity experts to provide internal team trainings that increase our knowledge of the racialized history of education in the United States, in order to continually evaluate, inform, and improve our internal lending policies
What we offer
- Loans that provide charter schools with financing for acquisition, construction, leasehold improvements and mini-perm uses. This financing is often provided in conjunction with other lenders.
- Recoverable Grants to be used for predevelopment expenses, including architect fees, appraisals, environmental surveys and site feasibility studies—costs that must be paid prior to acquisition or construction closing. Recoverable grants are interest free and repaid when a project receives financing.
- New Markets Tax Credits that provide qualifying charter schools with additional equity and reduce financing costs. We provide this financing through LISC’s affiliate, the New Markets Support Company (NMSC), the nation's largest distributor of New Markets Tax Credits and which has financed 11 charter schools to date. Read more about our NMTC work and NMSC’s Project Financing services.
- Publications allow us to provide the latest information on the state of the charter school facility financing sector. Through our various publications, including the Charter School Facility Finance Landscape, Charter School Bond Issuances, andSpecial Articles and Research we keep the next-generation of charter schools, policy makers, and finance professionals educated.
- Technical Assistance is provided to schools through our SchoolBuild research portal, which is meant to guide schools through the facility development process from start to finish. SchoolBuild provides the most up-to-date content guides, essential document templates, a project cost calculator, a service provider directory, as well as the latest federal and state facility financing data. Charter school leaders at any and all stages of the process will be able find practical insights and solutions they need.
