Banking Giant Offers Financing for Charter Schools
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JPMorgan Chase & Co., a global financial-services company, has announced a $325 million effort to support building, expanding, and renovating charter school facilities.
The company said it would give $50 million in grants to community-development financial institutions to support charter schools. It will also provide about $175 million in debt financing and about $100 million in “new markets tax-credit equity” for charter schools, according to a press release. It estimates the financing will help underwrite about 40 charter schools. The program is aimed at schools that already have a strong academic track record and have had their charter renewed at least once, or at established charter operators that want to launch new schools.
The company took out a full-page advertisement in The New York Times yesterday announcing the initiative. It also ran an ad in The Washington Post.
The financing for charter school buildings and renovations is welcome, said William Haft, the vice president for authorizer development for the Chicago-based National Association of Charter School Authorizers. Mr. Haft said that paying for a building is