Athlos Leadership Academy at dusk

Athlos Academies Assists Three Partner Schools Attain Local Ownership

Athlos Academies recently assisted three Texas charter schools attain ownership of their facilities. On October 27, 2016 full ownership of Athlos Leadership Academies in Brownsville, San Antonio, and Austin Texas was transferred to the local school boards.

As a social venture education service provider, Athlos Academies has provided financing, land acquisition, design, and construction services to more than 20 charter schools nationwide. This funding solution provides an avenue for new charter schools to focus efforts on teaching and learning while alleviating the focus on budgeting facility expenses.

“It’s our goal to enable charter schools to be most effective educationally and self-sufficient financially in the shortest time possible,” said Ryan Van Alfen, co-founder of Athlos Academies. “The services we offer charter schools supports them and allows more educational opportunities for students. By handing over the ownership of these schools to local governing boards in just over two years, we have proven that our model is successful in helping these charter schools.”

Ownership of the three Jubilee schools that closed in October was transferred in just over two years. Since 2008, Athlos Academies has assisted 18 total facilities to the bond market on behalf of local school boards — an extraordinary accomplishment.

Charter schools are often faced with difficulties accessing money needed to build facilities. While traditional public schools have local taxing authority to finance construction, this often isn’t the case for charter schools.

Without having an enrolled student population or a proven academic track record when construction begins, new charter schools are often not granted loans needed to build their facilities. This causes many charter schools to start up in rented strip malls, churches, and other spaces that may not be conducive to learning. Partnering with Athlos Academies allows these charter schools to open state-of-the-art facilities.

Athlos Academies is a social venture started in 2006 to provide sustainable solutions to many of the struggles charter schools face today. The organization offers a range of services to charter schools, including charter application development, facility construction, leasing, bond market assistance, operational support, research-based curriculum, staff and student recruitment, and teacher training. Athlos Academies currently partners with schools in Arizona, Louisiana, Minnesota, Texas, and Utah, with more schools looking to join the partnership nationally in the next few years.

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