Charter school financial managers are facing unprecedented challenges as they navigate their organization’s response to COVID-19. Challenges include managing the financial implications of the shift to distance learning during the pandemic; what to do with capital projects underway and on the drawing board; how to conduct financial planning in the most uncertain environment they have ever faced; learning how to navigate financing in a rapidly changing capital market; and how to maintain effective communication with stakeholders when there is still so much they don’t know about the future.
To learn more about these challenges and what proactive charter school leaders can do to address them, the Charter School Facility Center assembled a group of charter school financing experts for an in-depth discussion.
The panel of experts included:
- Laura Kozel, Vice President of Capital Finance at Rocketship Public Schools, a charter school operator with 19 schools in California, Wisconsin, Tennessee and the District of Columbia,
- Kevin Quinn, Founder and Principal of Wye River Group, an independent municipal advisory group. Kevin has over 35 years providing financial advisory services to nonprofits, governments, and authorities,
- Greg McKenna – Managing Director at BB&T Capital Markets. Greg is an underwriter who specializes in charter school financing who has led over 30 financings providing more than $750 million to charter schools, and he is a former board member of the Charter Schools Development Corporation, and
- Liz Sweeney, President of Nutshell Associates, a municipal advisory and financial consulting firm. Liz is a faculty member of Georgetown University’s business school and a former managing director at S&P Global Ratings.
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