Online Smart School

The quality of education in our public schools, as measured by rising student dropout rates, lower scores on standardized tests, and lack of preparation to enter the workforce (among other factors) bodes ill for the U.S. economic future, particularly for minority and immigrant students. However, help in shoring up public education throughout the country in the last few years is coming in the form of new educational ventures know as charter schools and these alternative schools have gained support in high place, including the White House. The Obama administration supports charter school initiatives and the education advocates, Bill and Melinda Gates, have funneled grants to charter schools through their foundation. Several months ago Facebook founder, Marc Zuckerberg, made headlines when he donated $100 million dollars to Newark, New Jersey’s troubled public schools, with some of the funds earmarked for charter schools. Now tennis great Andre Agassi has stepped up to make a major investment in charter schools.

Former tennis champion and a real estate investment firm have teamed up to form an investment fund to finance charter school buildings in a bid to spur the growth of independent public education. The fund, called the Canyon-Agassi Charter School Facilities Fund, plans to finance up to $750 million worth of new school construction or remodeling of buildings to accommodate schools in low-income, urban communities across the country.

“The biggest impediment to Charter school growth has been the physical plant to house the students”, said Bobby Turner, chairman and chief executive of Los Angeles-based Canyon Capital Realty Advisors, in announcing the partnership Andre Agassi Ventures. ”Since charter schools reared their heads as an alternative to public schools, the problem has been the cost and difficulty in leasing or acquiring a physical plant appropriate to house an educational institution.”

Prior to his involvement in the charter school movement, Turner worked in a similar partnership with NBA star Earvin “Magic” Johnson to build affordable housing and commercial space in impoverished urban areas. Turner contacted Agassi to collaborate after reading the former tennis star’s memoir.

Charters are publicly funded schools but are operated autonomously from a local school district and cant access public financing mechanisms, such as bond issues, to construct buildings. Finding a place to put a school is typically the hardest and most expensive hurdle charter start-ups face.

It is very prohibitive for many charters that have great programs, said Vielka McFarlane, founder of Celerity Educational Group that operates four charters in low-income areas of Los Angeles and is opening three new ones in the fall. Its the biggest challenge.

Celerity’s four schools are located in a church, a converted warehouse, an old parochial school and even a portable classroom.

In some communities, particularly in New York City, charter schools have been able to share the physical plant of under-utilized public schools, occasionally causing conflict in the community being served as a result of what is often perceived as a more rigorous education offered by the charter school as well as the limited number of seats available at the charter school.

Canyon Capital’s expertise in real estate combined with Agassi’s formidable name recognition is expected to give this initiative a real leg-up in the charter school arena.

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