New report profiles 83 organizations operating public charter schools
Contact: Gary Miron -- (269) 599-7965; gary.miron@wmich.edu
Kevin Welner -- (303) 492-8370; kevin.welner@gmail.com
TEMPE, Ariz and BOULDER, Colo. (December 23, 2008) -- The number of schools run by nonprofit Education Management Organizations is nearly as many as those run by for-profit ones, according to a new report on the nonprofit EMO sector released today.
Profiles of Nonprofit Education Management Organizations: 2007-2008 was prepared by Gary Miron, Professor of Education, and Jessica Urschel, a graduate student in organizational psychology, both at Western Michigan University. This report is released by the Educational Leadership, Research & Technology Department at Western Michigan University's College of Education, along with the Education and the Public Interest Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder and the Education Policy Research Unit at Arizona State University.
"Until recently, most attention has been focused on the for-profit EMOs," says Miron. "In recent years, however, more interest and private funds have been devoted to nonprofit organizations that manage charter schools. While concerns about profit motives are not as apparent with nonprofit organizations, there remain concerns about how public governance of these schools is being affected."
Education Management Organizations are for-profit or nonprofit groups that manage schools receiving public funds, including district and charter public schools. The nonprofit Profiles report documents the number of nonprofit firms managing publicly funded schools, identifies the schools they manage, and records the number of students those schools enroll. The report is modeled on and employs similar methodology to the series of reports profiling for-profit EMOs compiled by Alex Molnar of Arizona State University.
The report identifies 83 nonprofit EMOs operating in 24 states, with the greatest concentration in California, Texas, Arizona and Ohio. While growth is slowing in the for-profit EMO sector, nonprofit EMOs have steady growth. The nonprofit EMOs include 13 large ones operating 10 or more schools, 34 medium-sized ones operating 4 to 9 schools, and 36 small ones operating 3 or fewer schools. The largest, by far, is KIPP, the Knowledge is Power Program, which now operates a total of 57 charter schools.
Altogether, nonprofit EMOs operate 488 schools, compared with 533 operated by for-profit EMOs. The share of schools managed by large, medium-sized, and small nonprofits is more evenly distributed than in the for-profit sector, however. While large nonprofits manage 88% of all schools in the for-profit EMO sector, they manage only 44% in the non-profit sector.
In another contrast, nonprofit EMOs are less concentrated among primary schools than for-profit ones. While 60% of the schools operated by the for-profit sector are primary schools--which are generally less costly to run--primary schools account for only 30% of those managed by nonprofit EMOs.
The authors suggest that the need to earn a return for shareholders may influence the focus of for-profit EMOs on less-costly primary schools, while the nonprofits lack that incentive to skew their focus.
The report is likely to be of interest to policymakers, educators, school district officials, and school board members who wish to learn more about current or potential contractors. Investors, persons involved in the education industry, and employees of nonprofit EMOs may find it useful in tracking changes, strategizing for growth, and planning investments. Like the for-profit Profiles series, the nonprofit Profiles may also be of interest to journalists and researchers studying education management organizations.
Find the Profiles of Nonprofit Education Management Organizations on the web at: http://epicpolicy.org/publication/profiles-nonprofit-education-management-organizations-2007-2008
CONTACT:
Gary Miron, Professor
Department of Educational Leadership, Research, & Technology
College of Education
Western Michigan University
Kalamazoo, MI 49008-5238
(269) 599-7965
gary.miron@wmich.edu
Kevin Welner, Professor and Director
Education and the Public Interest Center
University of Colorado at Boulder
(303) 492-8370
kevin.welner@gmail.com
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The Education and the Public Interest Center (EPIC) at the University of Colorado at Boulder and the Education Policy Research Unit (EPRU) at Arizona State University collaborate to produce policy briefs and think tank reviews. Our goal is to promote well-informed democratic deliberation about education policy by providing academic as well as non-academic audiences with useful information and high quality analyses.
Visit EPIC and EPRU at http://www.educationanalysis.org/
EPIC, EPRU and Western Michigan University's Department of Educational Leadership, Research, & Technology are members of the Education Policy Alliance.
(http://educationpolicyalliance.org/)
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