Lessons Learned as SchoolPrint Pilot Comes to An End
NEW YORK (July 6, 2021) In 2019, LISC launched its SchoolPrint: Charter School Project Management pilot. The goal of this two year initiative was to provide hands on technical assistance to 20 schools embarking on or completing a facility project but encountering significant challenges. By connecting charter school operators with facility development experts, SchoolPrint aimed to build high-quality schools while avoiding common planning pitfalls that would otherwise drain critical classroom resources. On June 30, 2021 the pilot came to a close.
The SchoolPrint team is proud of their results. They have provided hours of virtual trainings, presented to hundreds of school leaders and sector partners during conferences and in-person trainings, guided the facility projects of 28 school leaders to success by providing tailored support, and built out a database of charter school facility service providers.
Over the course of this work, the team has become even more aware of the persistent challenges charter school leaders face when completing a facility project. The areas where school leaders requested the most support included affordability assistance, facility team procurement, and site selection. The impact of SchoolPrint’s upfront technical assistance to school leaders ultimately led to better informed facility decisions and monetary savings that keep dollars in the classroom, where they belong.
Going forward, many parts of this pilot will continue within LISC Charter School Financing’s lending work and through the online research portal, SchoolBuild. Facility development best practices will continue to be shared on the SchoolBuild website and through SchoolBuild’s quarterly webinars. Schools can reach out to our Charter School Financing team at csf@lisc.org.
We extend our deepest thanks to the funders of this initiative, the Walton Family Foundation; our colleagues throughout the sector who supported and recommended SchoolPrint services; the real estate vendor partners; and our school partners, who trusted us to guide their projects to completion. The LISC Charter School Financing team is looking forward to applying these learnings in our day to day lending work.
For additional information or to make an inquiry about SchoolPrint’s past work, please contact Carly Pablos (cpablos@lisc.org).