Chicago, Ill. – Today the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) and the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) released a joint report aimed at increasing conversation and understanding between lenders and charter school authorizers—two groups with similar interests, albeit different goals, in the success and sustainability of the charter schools they support.

The report, “Charter Lenders & Charter Authorizers: Can We Talk?” is the result of a working group hosted by both organizations that revealed little overlap currently exists between how lenders and authorizers share or evaluate data.

“Both lenders and authorizers want to see strong schools that provide children with excellent educations and are stewards of public money and trust,” said Greg Richmond, NACSA President and CEO. “Facility financing is a hurdle that can set a charter up for success or failure. Increased collaboration will help lenders and authorizers smooth this process and create more great schools.”

The report highlights areas where increased collaboration would ease the burden of data collection for both groups. Most notably, while strong authorizers have a robust architecture of accountability in place to regularly evaluate and report on charter school performance, most bond investors and underwriters reported pulling data from original charter applications, which reflect goals rather than actual performance or progress in meeting goals.

“More productive and transparent communication between lenders and authorizers enables us to focus on growing high-quality schools, which ultimately helps us transform neighborhoods in need,” concluded Reena Abraham, Vice President of Education of LISC.