B.1.6.1 Charter School Facilities

Charter schools are public schools. They can be operated by nonprofit public benefit corporations, for profit corporations or may be unincorporated with authorization and oversight by their public school districts, county offices of education or the State Board of Education. Charter schools can access the Charter School Facilities Program (CSFP) to finance new or modernize existing facilities.211 The CSFP is jointly administered by the California School Finance Authority (CSFA) and the OPSC. The Charter School Facilities Program, like the SFP, is funded by voter approved state GO bonds. Propositions 47 (2002), 55 (2004), 1D (2006) and 51 (2016) provided $1.4 billion for the construction of new charter school facilities or the rehabilitation of existing school district facilities for charter school use. This program allows charter schools to access facility funding directly or through the school district in which the project will be built. To qualify for funding, a charter school must be deemed financially sound by the CSFA.

Charter schools may also be able to use conduit financing to finance facilities (see Section 3.3.9 Conduit Revenue Bonds).