A Synthesis of Research on Charter School Facilities

Resource Selection
06 Oct, 2020

“A Synthesis of Research on Charter School Facilities” examines the current state of charter school access to facilities, including facility acquisition and ownership, and facility funding and financing. Through an extensive review of existing literature, the report identifies four key findings relevant to the current state of charter school facilities:

  1. The average U.S. public school building is aged and in need of maintenance, and low-income and students of color are disproportionately likely to attend schools in underfunded and poor-quality facilities.
  2. Access to facilities may be influencing the charter school pipeline and amount of public funds spent on charter facilities.
  3. Though States have created various funding and financing programs to offset the cost of charter school facilities, many are not currently funded.
  4. Programs providing credit enhancement to charter schools offer low-cost and highly effective means of expanding affordable financing options for charter schools.

This report also presents information on charter schools’ access to suitable facilities, the processes related to acquiring charter facilities, and the mechanisms used to fund and finance charter school facilities.