Walton Family Foundation announces $250M charter school initiative

DREAM Charter School in Harlem. The school's executive director, Richard Berlin, said in a Walton Family Foundation news release that he worked with seven different city agencies and raised money from more than 500 individuals and institutions and 12 lenders to build the school.
DREAM Charter School in Harlem. The school's executive director, Richard Berlin, said in a Walton Family Foundation news release that he worked with seven different city agencies and raised money from more than 500 individuals and institutions and 12 lenders to build the school.

The Walton Family Foundation will put $250 million into a program to provide capital for creation and expansion of charter schools, according to a news release from the foundation.

The initiative will begin with a focus on 17 cities, including Little Rock, Kansas City, Mo., Tulsa, New York City, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Boston and Houston, according to the news release. The injection of money is aimed at helping charter schools take in at least 250,000 more students across the country, according to the news release.

“Before opening their doors, charter schools must find suitable and affordable spaces where teachers can teach and children can learn. In many cities, this is the biggest barrier to creating high-quality educational options for children and families,” Marc Sternberg, the director of the foundation's K-12 education program, said in the news release. “The Building Equity Initiative intends to level the capital and policy barriers that prevent charter schools from growing to meet demand from families and communities.”

The initiative will function by providing low-interest loans to nonprofit lenders to help finance facilities for new and growing charter schools, the news release stated.

It will also create a new network of real estate experts, lenders, financiers and others who can help charter schools find and pay for facilities, according to the news release.

The foundation made its first grant for charter school facilities in 2003 and had made $116 million in facilities grants by 2015, according to a fact sheet from the foundation.

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