PORTLAND, OR—Charter School Capital has launched a new $500 million program to help charter schools nationwide address one of the charter school movement's biggest challenges – securing facilities that meet their growing needs.

The formation of American Education Properties, LLC (AEP), brings together Charter School Capital, the national leader in providing working and growth capital to charter schools, and investment firm American Infrastructure MLP Funds (AIM) to help solve the growing facilities needs of America's charter schools.

In this joint effort, AEP funds will be put to work to address charter school facilities needs. The offering is unlike other facilities financing options available in the market today, as it will enable each school to determine its own long-term facility needs by offering continued access and full control of their buildings. This represents a major improvement from the year-to-year lease renewals that many charter schools currently experience. By providing long-term facilities security and an investment partner interested in school expansion, AEP will give schools the ability to expand their enrollment and educational offerings with confidence.

“The dramatic growth of charter schools – 13% in 2013 alone – makes it clear that facilities financing, which is already one of the industry's largest challenges, will become an even more pressing issue during the coming years,” said Charter School Capital's president and CEO, Stuart Ellis. “In 2012, the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (NAPCS) found that more than half of charter schools would outgrow their current facilities within five years. Collaborating with AIM in the formation of American Education Properties allows Charter School Capital to serve a broad array of charter schools nationwide by freeing up resources that schools are then able to allocate to classroom instruction or other operational needs.”

The news has charter school advocates celebrating. “Nearly one million students nationwide are on charter school waiting lists. Charter school educators are eager to meet that demand. Fortunately, Charter School Capital has stepped up and created a solution to help parents,” says Caprice Young, president, Education Growth Group and founder and former CEO of the California Charter Schools Association. “These resources will open doors like never before. Charter public schools can now expand, offer new programs and customize their space to create the learning environment that best matches student needs.”

Nina Rees, president and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, added, “By providing charter schools security in their facilities, this effort helps lift a burden many schools face and will enable schools to focus, as they should, on their students and their academic results. School administrators will be better able to direct their scarce resources and time toward educating students rather than worrying about real estate needs.”

This collaboration with AIM enables Charter School Capital to work with individual charter schools to identify the school's specific needs and find existing facilities that match the school's criteria. Schools will then be empowered with the flexibility to make choices about what to do with their space so it best suits their faculty, staff and student community. Charter School Capital will facilitate all origination and sourcing, underwriting, asset administration, and property management for AEP.

“We are pleased to be partnering with Charter School Capital on this important initiative,” said Bob Hellman, CEO of the American Infrastructure MLP Funds. “Our goal is to help solve America's infrastructure needs with innovative capital solutions, and we believe that charter schools represent a critical and growing piece of this infrastructure puzzle. We look forward to working with schools and communities in need of secure, long-term facilities to provide the resources to help them continue to grow and thrive.”

Launched in 2006, Charter School Capital was founded to help provide flexible, low-risk and affordable working and growth capital to public charter schools, which historically have had fewer funding options and more difficulty accessing funds than traditional public schools. Charter School Capital has provided in excess of $700 million in funding to 400-plus charter schools providing high-quality education to 400,000 students across the United States.