Idaho financing programs cut charter schools' facility costs, speakers say

A policy adviser and charter school advocates told a legislative committee that Idaho’s combination of a revolving loan fund and a moral-obligation credit support has reduced facility financing costs for charter schools, producing what the presenter described as $113,000,000 in savings to date while the state has not recorded defaults.

Matthew Joseph, Senior Policy Advisor for Education Funding with ExcelinEd, told the committee that “so far it’s cost to state $0,” and that the savings the group calculated would let charter schools reinvest more in instruction — “and that means that every school … has the ability to hire 10 additional teachers.”

The presentation summarized a study of Idaho charter school facility financing that compared market interest rates to financing outcomes where schools used state-backed tools and philanthropic matches. Joseph and Idaho advocates said the state’s approach pairs short-term, low- or no-interest loans during a school’s startup phase with later credit support for long-term bond financing, and that private philanthropy and organizations such as Building Hope and Bloom have multiplied the impact.

Why this matters: Committee members were told the financing savings free operating dollars that schools typically must use for facility costs. The presenters…